buaku　武悪

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

A mask used in kyougen 狂言 plays to represent a demon. Glaring eyes, a wide jaw, and bared teeth give the mask a fierce appearance, but this is combined with a hint of weakness and timidity. The face is often painted reddish-brown. The resulting expression is comical, good-hearted or even a little sad, perfectly representing the personality of the kyougen demon. Buaku is used in a large number of plays like A Demon in Love SETSUBUN 節分, and represents The King of Hell ENMA 閻魔, in A Sinner with References YAO 八尾 and Asahina the Warrior ASAHINA 朝比奈. Buaku also is used as a 'fake' representation in A Demon for Better Working Conditions SHIMIZU 清水, when a servant tries to scare his master by pretending to be a demon. He puts the mask on and takes it off as he switches roles between himself and the demon. A variation of buaku is used to represent the thunder god, kaminari 神鳴, in the play, KAMINARI.

REFERENCES:

*kyougenmen 狂言面

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NOTES:

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