Formal ceremonial music and dancing performed at shrines, popular among the nobility from the 8th century. There are 160 kinds of bugaku; 30 from Korea (the so-called 'right hand' dances) and 130 from China, Tibet, Central Asia, India and Siberia (the 'left hand' dances). See gagaku, kagura.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.