Introduction
Understanding this tradition
Shōmyō is a Japanese Buddhist ritual song, particularly associated with Tendai and Shingon schools. It adapts Indian and Chinese heritages to Japanese language, liturgies and aesthetics.
First listening
Three things to hear
- Follow the inflections of a long syllable.
- Listen to the differences between Tendai and Shingon.
- Let the resonances of the place finish the sentence.
History and transmission
Introduced with Buddhist teachings in China, different styles are systematized in Japanese monasteries. Transmissions of lines retain melodies, gestures, notations and pronunciations. In the 20th century, ensembles of monks also presented shōmyō in concert.
What does it look like?
Flexible vocal lines, slips, ornaments, unisons or heterophonic superpositions. Pulsation may remain implicit; temple resonance prolongs the ends of sentence.
Where and why are we listening?
Shōmyō performs a ritual and puts into voice a Buddhist text. The concert scene reveals its sound structure, but transforms the relationship to time, place and offering.
Artists, works and albums
Three listening doors
Each button opens a search targeted on an external platform. Orabel does not read, copy and host any audio files.
Buddhist Chanting in Japanese Temples
Monks of Enryaku-ji
A historical anthology of singing from several Japanese schools.Spiral Mandala Ceremony
Shomyo no Kai
A contemporary space by priests trained in tradition.Shomyo
Junko Ueda
An artist who documents and presents the vocal techniques of shōmyō.Listen and transmit with respect
Do not call 的shōmyō , any Japanese meditative voice. Identify school, text and religious interpreters; do not phonetically copy a rite as a sound exercise.
Sources