ps: Witch dance, the dance of the shaman in the sacrificial activities, mixed with divination, witch words, incantations, songs and dances and other means to create a mysterious, magical and other atmosphere, so as to achieve the "connection" between humans and gods, especially dance as an important means. The www.biquge.info of pen & fun > pavilion refers to the various dances performed in conjunction with witchcraft rituals.

In a dance hall in Hong Kong at night, a stunning beauty in her twenties wearing a snow-white V-neck, low-cut suspender backless, high-slit tulle dress, a petite figure in her twenties, returned to her seat from the dance floor, sipping red wine, and complained: "Hong Kong is really far worse than Japan, if it weren't for Amaterasu-sama asking me to find a chance to get close to Gongsun Guiyi, I Tianyu wouldn't have come here because of my life, let alone dance this kind of lowly mortal dance that is far worse than Kagura." At that time, I must let Gongsun return to worship under my superb kalama in the witch dance that even the gods of Tianjin praised, and obediently be my minister under my skirt. ”

1. Witch Dance

Witch dance, the dance of shamans in sacrificial activities, mixed with divination, witch words, incantations, singing and dancing and other means to create a mysterious, magical and other atmosphere, so as to achieve the "connection" between humans and gods, especially dance as an important means. It refers to all kinds of dances that accompany witchcraft rituals.

In "Shuo Wen Jie Zi", it says: "Wu, Zhu Ye." Female, capable of invisible, dances to séance also. That is to say, Wu uses dance to communicate the relationship between man and God. Shamanism is prevalent in modern times among ethnic minorities around the world in the Mongol-Gustonic language lineage, in which shamans are called shamans. It originally meant a person who danced wildly because of excitement, and healed people and was lucky. The Book of Books. Yixun also has "dare to dance in the palace and sing in the room." It is called the description of the witch wind". All this shows that witches dance or sing to achieve the purpose of "communicating people and gods".

Witch dance in the ancient society is mostly related to asking for rain, where the rain must call the witch to dance, there are many records in the oracle bone inscription unearthed in Yin Ruins. There is a special dance called "dancing goose" for rain. In "Zhou Li. The annotation of "Spring Official" contains: "If the country is in a great drought, the witch will dance. "This dance also involves holding an oxtail. After asking for rain, if it does not rain, it is necessary to put the witch in the fire and burn it, and the oracle bone inscription has the word "烄", which means to burn the witch. This kind of rain prayer sacrifice is still a legacy in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Legend has it that the wax festival began in the Iki period, and it was a festival held at the end of the year to pray for a good harvest and give thanks to the gods. There are eight gods of wax offerings. There are gods related to farming, such as Shennong, Houji, Farmer God, Well God, Cat and Tiger God, Dike God, River God, and Baigu God. During the wax festival, Wu wears yellow clothes and yellow crowns to sing sacrificial songs and dance sacrificial dances. This is the day on which the wax festival is held. It became a day of rest and recreation for farmers. In the song and dance "Nine Songs" of the Chu Kingdom, the image of the god is played by a witch, who dances in colorful clothes. The altar is decorated with Qionghua herbs, cinnamon wine and pepper syrup, and the chief priest wears beautiful jade. Armed with a sword. The band plays a five-note ensemble, playing drums and singing.

In the early years of the Han Dynasty, the witch wind was still very strong, and the Han Gaozu often used witch shrines to worship the heavens, the earth, the mountains and rivers. Han Gaozu once ordered the world to set up a Lingxing Temple, and the sacrifice of Lingxing became a national sacrificial activity. The spirit star is the Amada star, the main valley. Dance the Spirit Star Dance during the sacrifice. The dancers are 16 boys and boys, and the dance movements are the labor process of teaching the people to farm: weeding, ploughing, plowing, driving birds, dustpanning, etc. In the Han Dynasty, the spring drought begged for rain, sacrificed to work, and the children danced 8 zhang Qinglong. Summer drought and rain. Sacrifice Chi You, the strong man dances 7 zhang red dragon. Autumn drought for rain. Sacrifice Shaohao, the widower dances the white dragon of 9 zhang. Seeking snow in winter drought, sacrificing to the god of Xuanshen, dancing the black dragon of Liuzhang. The sky is waterlogged and the rain does not stop, and the drums are cut down to stop the rain.

The Book of Jin records that during the Jin Dynasty, someone saw the ritual activities of the two witches (Zhang Dan and Chen Zhu) in Yuedi, not only did both of them have beautiful colors and gorgeous costumes, but also the dance steps were light, imitating the voice and smile of the ghosts, and the dancing sleeves were fluttering, and the skills were very high. Zhang Lihua, the favorite concubine of the Southern Dynasty Empress Chen, also worked in witch dances, and often gathered witches in the palace to beat drums and sing and dance, called worshipping the gods, in fact, it was already a tool to entertain people.

The function of witch dance is mainly divided into two types: one is to invite the gods, and the other is to exorcise ghosts and demons. The dance of exorcism of ghosts and demons basically retains the form of martial arts of collective hunting; The dance of the gods is choreographed in the form of reverence, politeness and other comparative texts. This distinction has led to a differentiation and change in the nature of human dance. Human dance began here and moved towards the development of dance art, rather than simply collective hunting labor. However, in terms of the role and essence of witch dance, the concept of witch dance is different from that of modern dance art, and witch dance is just a language of communication with supernatural, invisible gods.

Therefore, in the witch dance, there are types such as "fugue dance", "please god dance", "send god dance", "entertain god dance", "ghost chasing dance" and so on. The witch dance is divided into two categories: "séance dance" and "hereditary dance", and there are many forms of performance, such as paper money dance, sword dance, flower dance, fan dance, bell dance, etc.

2. Kagura

Kagura is a sacrificial dance that originated in the sacrificial activities of ancient clan societies and is an art that is dedicated to the gods and comforted them. It originated from the "Iwado myth" of ancient Japan, and has a long history and has been passed down through the world. This myth is recorded in the Kojiki, the Nihon Shoki, and the Ancient Sayings, in which Suzhan Mingzun and his sister Amaterasu fought for the dominance of Takamagahara, and Amaterasu hid in a stone house, making the world dark. Eight million gods gathered in Takamagahara to discuss the dance of the goddess "Heavenly Universe". "Tianyu was betrayed" did not disgrace her mission, she dressed up so well, tied her sleeves with vines, used kudzu vines as wigs, held bamboo leaves, opened her chest and exposed her breasts, dragged her belt all the way to her pussy, and danced and danced on the barrel with a reverse buckle, and trampled the bucket to "tom". And the eight million gods laughed in unison. Amaterasu felt strange in the rock house and thought, "Why is it so lively outside?" So curiously, I walked out of the rock house and wanted to see what was going on. As soon as she went out, she was grabbed by the "big hand male god" and put a rope behind her back, so that she could not go back. Since then, the world has been restored. This is the origin of Kagura.

(1) Classification

1. Mikagura

In the course of its later development, the kagura that was performed exclusively in the court attendants was called Gokagura (Imperial Kagura). In the process of its formation, the Kagura absorbed the contents of the Kagura from some folk shrines. To this day, the music is still performed at the imperial court in mid-December every year. At that time, accompanied by flutes and guqin, the "jincho" (the head of the kagura performance) leads the singing of the sacred songs. Dance the witch dance.

2. Sato Kagura

In addition to the okara, there is also the satokagura, which is the folk kagura of various places. Kagura is combined with the customs and beliefs of each region. Various changes have taken place, resulting in a different style of local kagura, known as surakagura. The names "Witch Goddess Gaku", "Izumo Kagura", "Yutachi Kagura", and "Lion Kagura" are the different genres of Satokakura. According to statistics, there are still 3,000 kinds of kagura in Japan. Its types include:

Types include:

(1) Witch Goddess Music

The Witch Goddess Raku originated from the aforementioned "Iwado Mythology". This myth is not only the origin of Kagura in Japan, but also considered by most scholars to be the origin of Japanese theater. As a matter of fact. The dancing "Tianyu Shou Die" (Tian Tian Maiden's life) can be seen as a shrine maiden. At the same time, Amaterasu made a comeback. Let the world gain light again. For a long time, it was also regarded as a divine event for soul suppression and resurrection. The "Takachitose Night Kagura" that has been handed down to this day is probably the Kagura of the Witch Goddess music genre, or it is said that Takachiho Night Kagura is closely related to the myth of Iwato Kai and the shrine maiden dance.

(2) The Izumo genre

Kagura of the Izumo genre is centered on the myth of the god "Suzhan Naruzun" who "expelled the eight-fold serpent". Izumo Kagura or "Kagura". "Picking". In short, the performer needs to have the props in their hands. According to Japanese experts. In the Izumo genre of Kagura, priests or shrine maidens originally danced with various props such as paulownia branches, coin bundles, swords, bows, staffs, long knives, and bells. Later, the number of dancers changed from one to several, and they wore masks of various gods, evil spirits, and ghosts, and expressed the plot of the gods driving away evil spirits, thus becoming a dramatic kagura. In other words, Kagura went from a simple ritual of inviting the gods. It gradually developed into dramatic Kagura.

(3) Ise Kagura

Ise Kagura is also known as "Yutachi Kagura" because this kagura is mainly held in the Frost Moon. That's why it's also called "Frost Moon Kagura". The main feature of "Yutachi Kagura" is that a large cauldron is placed next to the "Kamiza", which is filled with water and boiled until it boils. First, the shrine maiden offered the soup to the god who greeted her, and when the soup received the breath of the god, the shrine maiden dipped it in water with a bamboo branch and sprinkled it all around to ward off bad luck and various disasters, so as to ensure the safety of the people and a good harvest.

(4) Lion Kagura

Lion Kagura is divided into two categories:

a. Yamafushi Kagura

One of them is "Yamafushi Kagura" and "Bangaku". Yamabushi refers to those monks who practice in the mountains or practitioners of the Path. In the mountains of Aomori and Iwate prefectures, as well as Akita and Yamagata prefectures, for more than two and a half months from mid-to-late November to mid-February in the old calendar, the Yamabushi people wore lion heads to each house to perform lion dances to thank the gods for giving Shinya, to ward off evil spirits, and to pray for the prolongation of life. Yamabushi Kagura is also called Lion Dance, Gonken Dance, Turning Kagura, Passing Kagura, and in some places "Hoyin Kagura" and Iwate Prefecture's "Hayakamine Kagura" also belong to Yamafushi Kagura.

b. Taikagura

The second type of lion kagura is "Taikagura", also known as "Daikagura", also known as "dai kagura". "Dai" is an abbreviation of "daishen", and it also means daishen. Ise Jingu Shrine in Mie Prefecture in Japan and Atsuta Jingu Shrine in Nagoya City, these two shrines are very important in Japanese Shinto religion and hold an extremely sacred place in the hearts of the Japanese. In the past, it was not easy for people to visit Ise Jingu and Atsuta Jingu Shrine due to poor transportation, but the Kagura groups in the Ise and Atsuta regions went directly to each house, bringing the will of the gods and purifying the people of bad luck, and the thing they relied on was the lion, and the respect for them was also the worship of Ise Jingu, so it was called "Dai". In other words, the lion's head can also be seen as a messenger of the shrine.

Daikagura's performances are dominated by the lion dance, and there is also the "Lay Down Art". Lay down art refers to the various performance techniques performed on the street from the Middle Ages to the modern era in Japan, and the actor is called "Lay Down Master". Generally speaking, there are several kinds of programs: umbrella playing, handball, cage and ball, offering lanterns, sword sanban kui song, etc., playing with beads, knives, hats, tea bowls and other small props, and some performances of "Kyogen" and "Banzai" (two people perform, go from house to house, and offer blessings to sing and dance). Depending on where they came from, they were divided into "Ise faction" and "Owari faction", with those from the Ise region being called "Ise faction" and those coming from Nagoya being called "Owari faction" or "Atsuta faction". In ancient Japan, it could be called the "land of rice farming". The Japanese regard rice as a godsend. For this reason, the rice ritual civilization and performing arts for the purpose of praying for a good rice harvest are very rich, such as Tian You, Tian Zhi Zhi, Tian Zhi Shenshi, Tian Le, etc., which can be collectively referred to as Tian Le Performing Arts. (To be continued.) )