kaminashijou　髪無尉

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

Hairless old man. Also written 上無尉. Alternate name, inarijou 稲荷尉. A noh mask *noumen 能面 representing an old man. Unlike all other old men's masks, kaminashijou is bald, and has no implanted hair along the upper ridge of the mask. It is used exclusively for the main role in the first act of the shirokashira 白頭 variant performance of the play KOKAJI 小鍛冶 (Fox Swordsmith), where in place of a young boy the god of grain, Inari Myoujin 稲荷明神, appears. Although not generally used today, it seems to have been popular in the Muromachi period. A special mask of the Kongou 金剛 school, which belongs to the 'lower' branch of noh schools, the alternative characters imply that the mask is not found in the 'upper' kami 上 schools of Kanze 観世 and Houshou 宝生.

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*joumen 尉面

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