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higakionna 桧垣女 | ||||||
KEY WORD : art history / sculptures | ||||||
Two noh
masks *noumen 能面 used
one in the first and the other in the second act of the *nou
能 play HIGAKI 桧垣. Both represent old women, the one in living form,
the other after death as a suffering ghost. When the beautiful dancer Higaki
was close to a hundred, she was asked to draw water for a nobleman and composed
a poem on her deed. After death her spirit repeatedly had to draw water
using a hot iron bucket and was consequently scalded by the contents. The
first mask, like *roujo
老女, has the hollow cheeks, thin lips and down-cast eyes of age, but also
smooth skin without wrinkles evoking a lingering beauty. The hair has alternate
strands of white and black, as do the thin eye brows. In contrast to the
soft elegance of the living higaki, the ghost Higaki has sharper
features, with pointed chin, sunken eyes, down-turned mouth, and numerous
loose strands of black hair. The rounded eyes with gold-painted pupils and
the gold-tipped teeth make this mask appear like an older version of *deigan
泥眼. Since both higaki masks are variants of standard masks, ryoujo
and *ryouonna 霊女
respectively, and used for only one play, examples are rare, but one fine
Higaki of the second type is property of the Tokugawa 徳川 Art Museum,
Aichi prefecture. See also *onnamen
女面; compare to *komachi
小町, *yaseonna 痩女. |
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(C)2001 Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. No reproduction or republication without written permission. 掲載のテキスト・写真・イラストなど、全てのコンテンツの無断複製・転載を禁じます。 |
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