fukai　深井

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

Deep. A noh mask *noumen 能面, representing a middle-aged woman torn by separation from a loved one, either man or child. Gentle and mature, fukai's face is filled with a melancholy that comes from experience and feeling. The features are deep-cut, with crevices along the lower cheeks and deep-set eyes with heavy eyelids and drooping corners. The well-modulated lips neither smile nor frown. The fleshy face has a protruding forehead and chin, creating a slightly concave silhouette. The hairline is the same as *wakaonna 若女. The writings of Zeami Motokiyo 世阿弥元清 (1363-1443) mention a fine Fukai by the carver Echi 越智, possibly the very same as a Muromachi period mask presently owned by the Kanze 観世 family. Fukai is the standard Kanze school mask for roles of mothers who have their child in plays like *SUMIDAGAWAI 隅田川 (Sumida River) or FUJITO 藤戸, or wives separated from their husbands, in plays like KINUTA 砧, The Fulling Block, or other middle-aged woman roles, like the mountain woman in the first act of *YAMAUBA 山姥. Fukai masks come in a spectrum of ages, the oldest being labeled yuki no fukai (snow) 雪の深井, the next tsuki no fukai (moon) 月の深井, and the yougest hana no fukai (flower) 花の深井. The Houshou 宝生 school has a special variation asai (shallow) 浅井.

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