This is one of a series of posters designed in 1981 by twelve top Japanese graphic design artists under the curation of the art and design critic Masaru Katsumi. They commemorated a series of lectures, masterclasses and performances relating to five types of traditional Japanese theatre, dance and music. Performers calling themselves the Classical Performing Arts Friendship Mission of Japan spent five weeks performing on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, and across the country as part of the UCLA Asian Performing Arts Institute.

Nihon buyo is a quiet type of Japanese dance performed to the accompaniment of a Shamisen, or Japanese lute. It originated in the early Edo period in the early 17th century, two of its most characteristic dances being the Kabuki dance, and the Kamigata-mai. The more dynamic Kabuki dance borrowed stylistically from Kabuki theatre, while Kamigata-mai, with its more restrained, shuffling movements, developed in Kamigata, the Kyoto and Osaka regions.

Hogaku, or music of one’s homeland, is a general term for traditional Japanese music, including Gagaku, imperial court music, and Shomyo, liturgical chants in Buddhist music and folk songs.