Shinto and Buddhist Sacred Music

Religious Music (Kagura & Shomyo)

Shinto Music:
     The indigenous Japanese Shinto religion ("the way of the gods") is celebrated through chanting and dancing ritual music called “kagura” (神楽, “god music” or “shrine music”), but kagura can also refer to taiko drum ensemble music "for the gods" (See Eitetsu Hayashi, Ondekoza).  Shinto rituals primarily surround shrine blessings or purification rites.

     There are 3 main locales for Shinto shrine music: Mi-kagura (court shrines), Sato-kagua (small village shrines) and O-kagura (large village shrines).

Mi-kagura: (御神楽) Shinto music for imperial court ceremonies, similar instrumentation to Gagaku, often accompanied with chorus.

   

Basic Ensemble:

• wagon zither (or Yamato-goto, 6 string zither, uses 4 basic pentatonic patterns, used as structural signals)
• kagura-bue (or Yamato-bue, 6-holed bamboo flute)
• hichiriki (9-holed double reed)
• misc. percussion, clapper (shakubyoshi), bells, clappers

wagon zither (or Yamato-goto)

Mi-kagura songs and dances have one of two purposes:

• Torimono: songs praising gods, seeking their aid
• Saibari: songs with sword and mask dances, entertaining the gods (later adapted into Gagaku Saibara)

Types of Dances

• Kagura (alt. meaning): male dance (such as Azuma asobi, an early dance surviving only as a Seigaku gagaku piece).  Both Torimono and Saibari forms.
• Mikomai: 巫女舞, female shrine dance, the basic ensemble is supplemented with a bell tree (suzu)
• Shirabyoshi: 白拍子, female (girls) dance, uses Imayo song (a form of court “popular” music), employs flute and hourglass drums (tsuzumi) with chant

Sato-kagura: (里神楽, rustic, "village kagura") Shinto folk and festival (matsuri) music, this style is concerned with local shrines.  The music is somewhat repetitive instrumental background dance music broken by flute interludes and chanting sequences.  In other words, the audience is focused on conversation and celebration, and the music is an interactive element.

The core sato-kagura instrumental group (later also used in Noh drama ensembles) is called Hayashi (囃子, flute and 3 drummers):

• 3 taiko-style drummers (1 o-daiko, 2 taiko)
• Take-bue/shino-bue (6-7 hole bamboo flute)
• also supplemented in folk dances with additional percussion instruments, such as atari-gane (hand gong)

The term "hayashi" becomes "bayashi" when used as a suffix (for example, "Edo-bayashi" is Edo's local hayashi group).  Types of sato-kagura dances include:

• Okame-odori: comic female dance (below)
• Hyottoko: bumpkin dance
• Nimba: dog dance
• Shishi-odori: lion dance
• Oni-no-mai: Devil-dance

O-kagura: folk and festival music for large, major Shinto shrines (but not "imperial").

(Sato-kagura Okame-odori)

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Buddhist Music:
     Shômyô chants (声明) based on Buddhist sacred texts (sutras) and hymns were imported from India and China, and were sung a capella by one or more Buddhist monks.  The chants employ the ryo and ritsu pentatonic scales, both with two additional "auxiliary" tones (a third scale is based on a combination of the ryo and ritsi scales).  The chants are often accompanied by wooden percussion/bells/gongs (including mokugyo, uchiwa-daiko, uchinarashi, kei, densho, etc).  Each of the vocalists sings in their own pitch register (which can result in some complex "harmonies").  In certain rituals Sanskrit text is sung over Chinese chant.  Due to their international roots, Buddhist chants are delivered in several languages:

• Bonsan (Indian Sanskrit)
• Kansan (Chinese)
• Wasan (Japanese, 12 syllable lines in groups of 7 or 5)
• Koshiki (Chinese characters sung in Japanese phonetics)

     There are 2 main streams (sects) of Shômyô chant: Tendai Shomyo and Singon (Shingon) Shômyô (as well as Todaiji and Jyodo). 

(Shingon Shômyô)

Folk Forms
     Folk forms of Buddhist chant were adapted from Wasan Japanese language chants, and eventually became imayo forms and absorbed into folk bushi songs.  A hymn type called saimon (zaimon) would also eventually evolve into a vocal-shamisen form called utazaimon.  The chant vocal style also influenced the development of vocal elements in Heike-biwa and Nôh, all of which in turn led to shamisen Joruri form.

     Some other folk forms include the Goeika, which was popularized by pilgrims travelling to shrines, and Ondo, which pit soloists against choirs (ex.: "Akita-ondo") and accompany o-bon festival dances (bon-odori).  Many other folk dance forms also exist as part of various Buddhist festivals.  These are usually supported by flute and drums, and sometimes shamisen.

https://www.britannica.com/art/Japanese-music/Tonal-system#toc283252 
Shomyo Information on Junko Ueda's Site
Japanese Music & Musical Instruments, William Malm, 1959
Shinto Music Wiki
Shomyo Wiki