Aesthetic Appreciation of Japanese Traditional Dance: A Mixed-Methods Cross-Cultural Study

This mixed-methods study examined Japanese and German viewers’ aesthetic appreciation of Bugaku, a traditional Japanese court dance performed in religious ceremonies for over a millennium. In Study 1, we administered questionnaires to German Bugaku practitioners and interviewed a Japanese Bugaku instructor in Germany. The findings revealed cultural differences in the perception of Bugaku’s characteristic movements—described as slow, flowing, and grounded—in contrast to Western dance forms. German participants reported feelings of awe and sublimity when viewing Bugaku, emphasizing the dance’s transcendent qualities. In Study 2, Japanese ( N  = 392) and German ( N  = 409) participants viewed a professional Bugaku performance and evaluated it along five aesthetic dimensions derived from Study 1: Preference, Transcendent Experience, Gracefulness, Harmony and Structure, and Movement Comprehension. Japanese participants gave higher ratings for Preference, Transcendent Experience, Gracefulness, and Harmony and Structure. German participants reported higher levels of Movement Comprehension. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses, controlling for demographics and other individual differences, revealed two significant cultural interactions. First, cultural background moderated the relationship between Movement Comprehension and Preference: Higher comprehension predicted lower Preference among German but not Japanese participants. Second, cultural background moderated the influence of Harmony and Structure on perceived Gracefulness. This relationship was stronger among German participants. These cultural differences may be explained by variations in cognitive processing styles (holistic vs. analytical) and culturally shaped schemata. The findings demonstrate that traditional performing arts are interpreted through culturally specific cognitive frameworks, while simultaneously evoking universal emotional responses such as awe and transcendence.