'Refined Music'. Ceremonial music (kangen) or music and dancing (bugaku) incorporating Chinese and Indian elements are preserved in the Music department (gakubu) of the Board of Ceremonies of the imperial household and at certain shrines and Buddhist temples. Instruments include the three reeds (fue, sho and hichiriki), the wagon or yamato-koto, a kind of koto, and the 'three drums' (taiko, kakko and shoko). Gagaku dancers wear costumes and masks.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.