KOOMOTE - Vintage Japanese Noh Mask #5196

Width: approx. 21.1cm (8 5⁄16in) x 12.8cm (5 1⁄16in)
Weight: 150g
Origin: Japan

The ko-omote mask is of a young woman, and her expression is lovely and artless. A key characteristic of the ko-omote mask is that the first three strands of hair at the hairline are drawn in parallel, not overlapping. Noh masks can express joy, anger, pathos or humor depending on the movements of the actor wearing the mask. While on stage, turning the mask upward is terasu (shining) and turning downward is kumorasu (clouding), expressing joy or pathos for example, and all kinds of mood shifts can be expressed while wearing the same mask. With just some exceptions, onna-men or female masks are depicted with thick white stage makeup, painted-on eyebrows and blackened teeth, which are all customs remaining from the age when Noh was established.

Noh is a form of classical musical drama in Japan, and its present-day form came into existence during the Muromachi Period. Kanami developed a form of Noh called Sarugaku, and Noh became popular under the patronage of the third Ashikaga Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. During the era of the Tokugawa Shogunat, Noh received official recognition as a national form of performing art that was used in official rituals. A lot of daimyo lords loved it very much. Noh masks are used by the main character, or the “shite,” and accompanying performers called the “tsure.” They are used to portray divinities, demonic divinities, vengeful ghosts, and other characters, on top of female characters that involve aesthetic expressions. Noh plays can be divided roughly into the following main categories: Okina and the elderly, the demonic divinities, the females, the males, and the vengeful ghosts. It is said that there are some 70 basic forms of Noh plays if they are categorized by name (for example, Koomote and Hannya). It is said that there are over 200 forms of Noh plays if the white, red, and black Hannya are counted as separate types.