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OKEIKO 9

Looking up at the clouds, admiring the cherry bloosoms in full bloom or looking back at one’s beloved. Such casual ordinary gestures became stylized “forms” (kata) in Nihon Buyo.

There are times when by the expression of looking up or looking back, the characters played by the Nihon Buyo dancer are using that ‘kata’; other times the ‘kata’ itself is describing the scenery such as the clouds or the flowers in full bloom.  There is of course no need for the viewers to remember or to be aware of the ‘kata’. If they let their imagination do the work for them, they can sense as a certain scenery spreads before their eyes.

(Mitsuko T. Sakurai)