Gojo　呉女

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

Maid of (the country of) Wu 呉. The only female mask in the *gigaku 伎楽 repertory, Gojo represents a beautiful young lady with pert mouth, crescent eyebrows and hair done up in two knots, the style (which varies slightly with each mask) represents the 8-9c fashion of the Tang dynasty. Compared to most other types of gigaku masks *gigakumen 伎楽面, the portrayal is refined and naturalistic. In the skit, the lecher *Kuron 崑崙 makes advances to the maid, but is ridiculed by her Buddhist guardian *Rikishi 力士. Two early examples are in the *Shousouin 正倉院 Repository and two in the Tokyo National Museum. Compare to *bugakumen 舞楽面, *Ayakiri 綾切, *noumen 能面.

REFERENCES:

*Gokou 呉公

EXTERNAL LINKS:

NOTES:

(C)2001 Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System.　No reproduction or republication without written permission. 掲載のテキスト・写真・イラストなど、全てのコンテンツの無断複製・転載を禁じます。