fusakumen　布作面

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

Lit. cloth masks. Also sakumen 作面. Eighth century burlap (ramie) pieces with a human face sketched in the center in ink, sometimes with added colors. Holes are cut for eyes, some large, some irregular at the pupils, and some as narrow slits above the lower eyelids. Most are rectangles, some have lower corners cut round. With the exception of one female face that has gentle eyes without openings, small red lips and a black topknot, all the other faces are of bearded men of various ages and expressions. Reference to 25 fusakumen used in a dance piece called Touchuugaku 東中楽 appears in the *Shousouin 正倉院 document of 764. These may be among the 32 cloth masks preserved in the Repository now.

REFERENCES:

*gigakumen 伎楽面, *zoumen 蔵面

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NOTES:

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