masugami　十寸髪

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

Also written 増髪. Long, tangled hair. A noh mask *noumen 能面 representing a deranged young woman, or divine being. 'Tangled hair', such as the wispy strands lying this way and that on this mask, refers in Japanese poetry to a distraught mind. Other evidence of perplexity and heightened emotion can be seen in the deep diagonal creases above the nose bridge, the slight hollows or dimples on the forehead and cheeks, and the tension around the eyes, nose, and mouth. The lips are pulled in a broad, but tight smile, and the lower eye lids swerve upward at the outer corners. Thin eyebrows are faintly visible among the loose strands of hair. The sense of a heightened state projected by this mask is suitable both for roles of crazed women wandering vaguely, like sakagami 逆髪 in *SEMIMARU 蝉丸 and TAMAKAZURA 玉葛 in a play by the same name, and also for roles where a female goddess dances in ecstasy, such as Miwa 三輪, Ema 絵馬 (The Votive Tablets), Tatsuta 竜田, and Makiginu 巻絹 (Bolts of Silk). The latter roles can also be performed with *zouonna 増女. Masugami is used by the Kanze 観世, Houshou 宝生, and Kongou 金剛 schools. Variants include sakagami and unohana onna 卯の花女. The 15c mask carver Yasha 夜叉 is said to have created the type. See *jissaku 十作. An example dated to the 15c with an inscription by the Muromachi period carver Tatsuemon 龍右衛門 belongs to the Tokyo National Museum and another is in a private Tokyo collection. See also *onnamen 女面, compare to *oumionna 近江女, *deigan 泥眼, and *hashihime 橋姫.

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