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Biwa hōshi
''Biwa hōshi'' ((日本語:琵琶法師)), also known as "lute priests" were travelling performers in the era of Japanese history preceding the Meiji period. They earned their income by reciting vocal literature to the accompaniment of biwa music. Often blind, they adopted the shaved heads and robes common to Buddhist monks. This occupation likely had its origin in China and India, where blind Buddhist lay-priest performers were once common.
Their musical style is referred to as 平曲 (heikyoku), which literally means “Heike music.” Although these performers existed well before the events, they eventually became famous for narrating. Before biwa hoshi sang heikyoku, they were entertainers and ritual performers. They took on a broad range of roles, including poetry and song, plague prevention, and spiritual purification; actually, it was probably because of their ritualistic duties that they became the caretakers of the ''Heike Monogatari'' (平家物語).
The biwa hoshi are considered the first performers of the ''Tale of the Heike'' (平家物語), which is one of Japan`s most famous epics. It details battles between two powerful clans, the Minamoto and the Taira around the 12th century. The Taira were eventually annihilated by the Minamoto (sometimes called the Genji), who systematically killed every male descendant of the Taira. Religion in Japan at the time incorporated many native animistic (Shinto) beliefs into its Buddhist theological framework, leading many court nobles and religious leaders to worry about angry Taira spirits disrupting the peace. The Great Earthquake around 1185 C.E. contributed to this sentiment. Since their rituals included placating spirits and preventing plagues, Heike music became a vehicle for placating lingering, resentful Heike spirits.〔Tokita 61〕 Heikyoku and biwa hoshi became immensely popular for the next several hundred years.
==Etymology==
Biwa hoshi (琵琶法師) literally means "lute priest". Hoshi (法師) is derived from ''buppo no kyoshi'', which translates as a teacher who explains Buddhist precepts. The two characters 法 and 師 mean Buddhist doctrine and teacher. It referred to blind priests who played the heike-biwa to accompany their songs about legends, wars, histories, and mythologies. Eventually, 法師 referred to non-blind and blind performers and was also used as a suffix to a series of other types of people (e.g. 田楽法師 (dancing musicians)、散楽法師 (Chinese-style entertainer)、絵取り法師 (outcast artists), and 三条法師 (men from Sanjo/men from temporary quarters).〔Ishi 293〕 Biwa hoshi are referred to in Japanese iconography that dates back to the late Heian period (794-1185 C.E.). They are also referred to in the ''Shin-sarugaku-ki'', written by Fujiwara Akihira (989-1066).〔Tokita 60〕
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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