Page 402 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

330
33i

330 Uba and sweep beneath the pines. They tell
polychromed wood the priest of two aged pines, one here in
l
21.2 X 14.1 (8 3/8 X 5 /z) Takasago and the other at Sumiyoshi in
Edo period Settsu Province and of their auspicious as-
sociations. Tomonari goes to Sumiyoshi in
Tokyo National Muséum
the second half of the play, and a deity ap-
pears and performs a god dance. The Uba
mask came to be also used for the roles of
331 Uba ordinary old women in other No plays.
polychromed wood Typically, the eyes are carved as they are
20.3 X 13.6 (8x 5 3/8) for the mask of a blind person.
Edo period, içth century On the back of cat. 330 is the burnt-in
Tokyo National Muséum seal of Déme Mitsutada, eighth generation
of the important Déme family of No mask
Uba, the mask of an old woman, is used makers of Echizen Province (part of
primarily in Takasago (cat. 215/1), a play in present-day Fukui Prefecture). Although
which an old woman and her husband rep- the form of the Uba mask is generally
resent the spirits of two pine trees. On his rather conventionalized, cat. 331 is even
way to the capital, Tomonari, a Shinto more so than usual. MK
priest from the shrine of Aso in Kyushu,
rests beneath the pines along the shore at
Takasago in Harima Province (now part of
Hyogo Prefecture). The old couple appear

389