Asuka Iijima: Nihon-buyō Dance

Asuka Iijima (Wakayagi Kiku Asuka) began her study of Japanese Dancing at age seven, studying under Master Wakayagi Kichikomae. She has over twenty years of dance training. Her stage performances include: Hane no Kamuro, Fuji Musume, Kioi Jishi, and Shigure Saigyo.

She studied abroad for advanced academic degrees from 2000 to 2005 completing both master’s and PhD degrees. Since 2007, she has been performing to popular Japanese ballads and local folk songs such as Yagibushi rather than traditional kabuki style music.

In 2021, she was certified as Shihan (Master of Japanese Dancing ) and is preparing to open a school of dance. She received a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and English Education from Keio University; a master’s degree in composition and TESOL (a certificate for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Indiana University of Pennsylvania; and a PhD Degree in Composition and TESOL from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Currently, she is an English instructor at Keio University in Tokyo and serves as an English instructor and tutor for various academic institutions.

Ms. Iijima will perform a Nihon-buyō dance called Dôjôji. Nihon-buyō (Japanese dance) refers to the classical Japanese performing art of dance. Nihon-buyō has three main elements: mai, odori and furi. Mai is a static and abstract movement with an emphasis on the ritual aspect, which is often present in the adaptation sequences of the nô theater; odori is a dynamic and rhythmic movement resulting from nenbutsu-odori (ja),a dance invented by a Buddhist monk around the 10th century; furi includes theatrical, dramatic and figurative body language (such as writing a letter, drinking sake, etc.), representing the actions of everyday life in the Edo period.  The term buyō is a modern term coined during the Meiji period (1868–1911) as a term for “dance”.

Asuka Iijima (Wakayagi Kiku Asuka) began her study of Japanese Dancing at age seven, studying under Master Wakayagi Kichikomae. She has over twenty years of dance training. Her stage performances include: Hane no Kamuro, Fuji Musume, Kioi Jishi, and Shigure Saigyo.

She studied abroad for advanced academic degrees from 2000 to 2005 completing both master’s and PhD degrees. Since 2007, she has been performing to popular Japanese ballads and local folk songs such as Yagibushi rather than traditional kabuki style music.

In 2021, she was certified as Shihan (Master of Japanese Dancing ) and is preparing to open a school of dance. She received a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and English Education from Keio University; a master’s degree in composition and TESOL (a certificate for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Indiana University of Pennsylvania; and a PhD Degree in Composition and TESOL from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Currently, she is an English instructor at Keio University in Tokyo and serves as an English instructor and tutor for various academic institutions.

Ms. Iijima will perform a Nihon-buyō dance called Dôjôji. Nihon-buyō (Japanese dance) refers to the classical Japanese performing art of dance. Nihon-buyō has three main elements: mai, odori and furi. Mai is a static and abstract movement with an emphasis on the ritual aspect, which is often present in the adaptation sequences of the nô theater; odori is a dynamic and rhythmic movement resulting from nenbutsu-odori (ja),a dance invented by a Buddhist monk around the 10th century; furi includes theatrical, dramatic and figurative body language (such as writing a letter, drinking sake, etc.), representing the actions of everyday life in the Edo period.  The term buyō is a modern term coined during the Meiji period (1868–1911) as a term for “dance”.