Art of Buddhist chant shomyo in the Japanese Buddhism context

This article is about Buddhist chant shomo, one of the oldest musical traditions of Japan. IN the article the author makes the attempt to understand the phenomenon of shomo by means of defining the concept 'shomo'. The article deals with the etymological analysis of the term, peculiarities of Japanese Buddhism, the phenomenon of Buddhist music and shomo is considered in the context of Buddhist culture and musical culture of Japan.