- Shōmyō
- Japanese term for singing and composing Buddhist chants. Because Buddhist chanting originated in India and afterward was transmitted to China and Japan, all three languages are heard. Chanted hymns in Pāli are called bonsan; in Chinese, kansan; in Japanese, wasan. Chants are also classified according to their functions: teaching (kōshiki and rongi), praise and lamentation (sandan), intercession (kigan), offering (kuyō), etc.; and according to mode and rhythm. Kyoto has been home to the shōmyō tradition since the ninth century. Kūkai established Tōji as the center of the Shingon sect in 806 (later moved to Mt. Kōya south of Osaka), and Saichömade Enryakuji the center of the Tendai sect in 847. The chanting of Zen and Pure Land Buddhists developed strongly at Kamakura in the 13th and 14th centuries. Buddhist traditions in general declined sharply after the Mejii Restoration in 1868, but Yoshida Tsunezō (1872–1957) and Taki Dōnin (1890–1949) revived the Tendai chant while Yuga Kyō-nyo (1847–1928) and Iwahara Taishin (1883–1965) revived the Shingon early in the 20th century. Today, an archive of shōmyō may be found at Ueno Gakuen College.
Historical dictionary of sacred music. Joseph P. Swain. 2006.