joumen　尉面

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

A mask representing an old man, jou 尉, in particular the old men masks of the *nou 能 theater and related performing arts. The term jou is generally applied to many pre-16c masks, where the type-categorization was not yet standardized. Fine examples include the long-faced old man's mask dated 1430 from Tenkawa Daibenzaitensha 天河大弁財天社, Nara. Today many varieties of joumen exist, each bearing a distinctive name whose last character is jou. By the mid-Edo period, elaborate rules controlled the use of each of these named types. First of all, distinction was made between joumen worn in the first act of a play, generally for the role of a local man of the area, and joumen worn in the second act, in which case the main actor, shite シテ, would perform a slow dance called 'dance prelude' jo-no-mai 序ノ舞 or 'the god's dance' shin-no-jo-no-mai 神ノ序ノ舞. Masks for the first act are arranged by level of dignity, kurai 位, reflected in the realism of construction: painted mustaches are more dignified than implanted horse hair; a single row of barely visible black upper teeth shows much less of the animal part of man than bared lower teeth glinting with white edges. The old man in the first act wears a costume that often indicates he is involved in manual labor with a wig of long hair bound in a high ponytail bound to the crown of the head. To complement this wig, the masks have implanted forelocks. Joumen are the only nou masks with realistic hair intended to blend in visually with the wig, though this device can also be seen in bugaku masks *bugakumen 舞楽面. Dancing old men roles divide into two groups. The spirits of trees, such as the willow in YUUGYOUYANAGI 遊行柳 or the old cherry in SAIGYOUZAKURA 西行桜, and the god of a shrine, such as Sumiyoshi Myoujin 住吉明神 in HAKURAKUTEN 白楽天. For these roles, depending on the acting school, the masks worn are *shiwajou 皺尉 (Kanze 観世 school), *maijou 舞尉 (Houshou 宝生 school), or *ishioujou 石王尉 (Kongou 金剛, Konparu 金春, Kita 喜多 schools). joumen are carved from cypress wood coated on the front surface with layers of gesso *gofun 胡粉 and painted. Variety in shade of the flesh color oudo-iro 黄土色 depends more on the age of the mask or the aesthetic of the carver than on regulations, though ishioujou tends to be whiter, and shiwajou grayer.

REFERENCES:

*noumen 能面

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。