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otokomen@’j–Κ
KEY WORD :@art history / sculptures
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Noh masks *noumen ”\–Κ representing men. These realistic portrayals of men of both high and low social status at various stages in life are often classified by age. Youths include the temple boys *kasshiki Š…H, the eternally young *jidou Žœ“Ά and *douji “ΆŽq (perhaps better classified as sprites along with the sculpturally similar red *shoujou ΰΝΰΝ), and the blind boys *semimaru δŠΫ and *yoroboshi Žγ–@Žt. Most of the young men's masks represent refined courtiers, many of whom were also warriors of the Heike clan and died in battle. The most universally used of these is *chuujou ’†«. Others include atsumori “֐· *imawaka ‘Žα and *juuroku \˜Z. To represent commoners *wakaotoko Žα’j or *kantan otoko ηΆηΐ’j are used. Middle-aged men appear only as victorious warriors and are represented by the mask *heita •½‘Ύ, of which several variations exist. Old men, venerated for their wisdom, appear in the first act of many noh plays. They are described under *joumen ˆΡ–Κ. In addition there are a number of special masks tokushumen “ΑŽκ–Κ used exclusively for a single play that bears the name of the character as its title, such as *KAGEKIYO Œi΄, *SHUNKAN rŠ°, *YORIMASA —Š­ and *IKKAKU SENNIN ˆκŠpεl, For these, each school has its own portrait-like interpretation. Thus while in general a mask can be used for a wide variety of roles in a large number of plays, the opposite is true for these special masks: a single role is represented by several quite different masks.
Hair styles for men's masks vary. Youths generally have hair streaming down over their forehead or in clear-cut bangs. Warriors and courtiers wore tall black lacquer hats. The line where the bottom rim of the hat would cut across the forehead is shown on the men's masks by a straight black horizontal strip. Side hairs are then painted along the left and right rims of the mask. Eyebrows are painted with thin black lines along the upper eye-socket, often thickening with an upward swerve for the outer portion. For the highest ranks (e.g. chuujou ), however, as with women's masks, eyebrows appear as 'caterpillar' fuzz above the bone structure, reflecting the custom of shaving them off and painting in false eyebrows. For mature men's masks, a mustache, sometimes slight, sometimes aggressively magnificent, and suggestion of a beard are painted in with black hair lines. The eyes are rendered realistically, with eyelids enclosing indented eyeballs. The pupils, however, unlike the square openings for women's masks, are rounded to give a strong dynamic, though they are not fully round circles as is found on demon masks. Coloring tends to be more ruddy than for women's masks.
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