Japan: Bugaku mask of the Shukutoku type, painted wood, c. 16th - 18th century, Tokyo National Museum

Bugaku, a court dance accompanied by Gagaku music, is a Japanese traditional dance blending Buddhist and Shinto elements that has been performed to select elites mostly in Japanese imperial courts for over twelve hundred years.

In this way it has been an upper class secret, although after World War II the dance was opened to the public and has even toured around the world in 1959. The dance is marked by its slow, precise and regal movements.

The dancers wear intricate traditional Buddhist costumes, which usually include equally beautiful masks. The music and dance pattern is often repeated several times. It is performed on a square platform, usually 6m by 6m.

Representing one of twenty standard characters that appear in Bugaku dance performance masks are a fine example of the exaggerated realism that captures a symbolic emotion or expression for dramatic stage effect. The earliest Bugaku masks were made by imperial craftsmen in dry lacquer.

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