This paper examines the embodied dimensions of time and rhythm in Anzaï, a Chikuzen Biwa narrative derived from the Noh play Ataka. Rather than treating Anzaï as a fixed musical text, it considers the work as a performative encounter in which sound, movement, and breath jointly shape meaning. Through close observation of Yamazaki Asahi-sui’s performance, the study explores how bodily motion, vocal phrasing, and instrumental gesture generate a particular sense of musical time. Drawing on video documentation, it further maps the interaction between breath, touch, and rhythm, revealing how fluctuations of timing articulate the performer’s physical engagement with the instrument. In dialogue with Nicholas Cook’s idea of “beyond the score” and perspectives from performance studies, the paper argues that embodiment is not a supplement to musical structure but a condition of its formation. The attack and decay patterns of the Chikuzen Biwa echo the performer’s kinesthetic rhythm—an “embodied temporality” that emerges through the coordination of motion, resistance, and sonic decay. Temporal awareness here is experienced not as measured duration but as a living process mediated by gesture, tension, and resonance. Placing Anzaï within a broader East Asian context, the discussion reflects on how embodied tempo and gesture sustain the continuity of intangible heritage. It suggests that the relationship between movement and sound is central to the transmission of narrative performance traditions, and that musical meaning arises through the lived temporality of the performing body.