Kitoku　貴徳

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

A dance piece in *bugaku 舞楽 and the mask *bugakumen 舞楽面 worn by a fighting king dancing in pride of victory in the performance. The character is identical to the Marquis Gui De (Jp: Ki Toku 貴徳), who was also the Hun king Jih Chu, but other stories associate the dance with the Marquis Gui De of Su Shen province. A military dance bu-no-mai 武舞 of the Right u-no-mai 右舞 performed by one dancer dressed in Heian military garb with dragon helmet, sword at his belt, and wielding a long halberd. He is assisted by two or four attendants. The masks occur in several types. First, a group of long faced, large nosed, stern masks, of which one by the Buddhist sculptor *busshi 仏師 Samon Gyoumyou 沙門行明 at Itsukushima Jinja 厳島神社 (1173) in Hiroshima prefecture, is a good example. Then, similar, but of a rounder, flatter construction with fleshier cheeks and sharply crossed eyes is the Kitoku at Fujita 藤田 Art Museum (1134) in Osaka. On this mask animal hair forms a wispy beard. A totally different style Kitoku are those labeled koikuchi 鯉口 (Kitoku with a carp mouth), because the curled, open lips form a gaping oval. An example is housed at Kasuga Taisha 春日大社 (1537) in Nara. Like the mask at the Fujita Art Museum, this one has an oval face with sharply slanted, crossed, eyes. Black strands of wiry hair can still be seen at the chin and over the upper lip. The performance of the dance changes when this carp mouthed variant mask is worn. The attendant dancers, instead of being barefaced, wear masks banko 番子 of various colors, representing different ages. The only authenticated one is at Sumiyoshi Taisha 住吉大社 (1163) in Osaka. It depicts an elderly man with round eyes, lightly incised wrinkles, a pleasantly relaxed mouth and painted mustache and beard. A completely different mask, labeled banko, is a Kamakura period piece at Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu 鶴岡八幡宮 in Kanagawa prefecture. It shows a pudgy boy with small slanted eyes and grinning mouth.

REFERENCES:

*Sanju 散手

EXTERNAL LINKS:

NOTES:

(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。