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Nasori

[Genre]Gagaku

Nasori appears on the following albums

Album Artist
Play ButtonGagaku - The Imperial Court Music of Japan
Nasori is a dragon dance, dedicated to the victors in sports and games. Classified as light music (shokyoku), it describes a male and a female dragon dancing blissfully together. The second movement (Nasorikyu) combines a duple and quadruple beat. The basic tone is d-sharp.
Play ButtonMusical Anthology of the Orient, Unesco Collection Vol 2
(Private Recording)
Nasori Music of the Right, Komagaku, in the mode called Koma-Ichikotsucho. This piece is also called Nassori, Namusori, Soryubu, and Rakuson. Rakuson is the term used when the dance is performed as a solo. This designation is said to stem from a dance figure, which consists in falling on the knees. This dance is still performed today at the Tennoji Temple (Osaka), where the oldest Bugaku tradition is found. Nasori is, however, the more usual designation.

When performed by two dancers, the term Soryubu, i.e. double dragon-dance may be used. The origin of the word Nasori remains unclear, just as does the meaning of the masks, which seem to represent dragon-like characters. They evoke South-East Asian elements. The fact that it is a dragon dance is not only implied by the name Soryubu, but also by its use in combination with Ryoo, with which it forms a Pair-of-Dances.

This dance was already known in Japan during the Nara Period (710-784). In the recording given here, the final fast (kyu) movement is repeated twice.