Page 373 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

religious solicitors and ambulant entertainers of all varieties. Performers of exorcism rituals journeyed
from one household to the next, often accompanied by musicians. Among the performances requiring
masks are the Daikoku dance, performed by a man in a black-faced whiskered mask representing one
of the gods of good fortune, seen in the upper right corner of the right screen. Another particularly lively
scene, in the middle of the same screen, shows lion dancers performing their animated exorcism dances,
which occurred during the New Year season. Dancers donning playfully ferocious lion masks and brightly
colored costumes hip-hop to music provided by people in fantastic hats decorated with artificial flowers.
Masks and costumes temporarily transformed the human performers into beings with magical powers
to expel evil and attract good.

37 2 The religious or alms-collecting motives behind many of the characters in itinerant Entertainers cat. 231
Amusements along the Riuerside
give way to escapist desires and sheer pleasure in a scroll by Shijó-school painter Ozawa Kagaku that at Shijó, late 16205,
captures views of the costume dance mania that took over Kyoto for several weeks in late spring 1839 detail from a pair of two-panel
screens; ink, color, and
(cat. 275). In the artist's vivid tableau based on real events, people in costumes representing Buddhist gold on paper,
x
3
deities and legendary figures cavort with goblins, fish, bugs, birds, and butterflies. Townspeople in every- each 164.4 172.8 (64 /4 x 68),
The Seikado Foundation, Tokyo,
day clothes are also caught up in the spirit of the masquerade dance. Important Cultural Property
The words "dancing incognito" (fuchi butô) at the beginning of the scroll are a reminder that the
masks and costumes used in folk dances let individuals change their everyday appearances and per-
sonalities, thus breaking down traditional reserve and permitting emotions to be freely expressed. Part
of the classic definition of play, as proposed by the sociologist Johan Huizinga, is the opportunity it
offers for "stepping out of real life into a temporary sphere of activity with a disposition all its own." 2
Even if there is no pretense of a profound religious motive, the use of mask and costume reflects a basic
human instinct to transcend the mundane world through simulation of the divine or otherworldly.
Among the traditional forms of performance that preserve a ritual aspect, no drama most strongly
relies on masks and elaborate robes to create a visual mystique. No, which flourished and reached its
pinnacle of refinement during the medieval period, was most closely associated with the tastes of the
samurai elite of Kyoto rather than of the townspeople of Edo. Yet no remained popular through early
modern times and literally set the stage for kabuki. Close examination of early paintings of the Shijó
(Fourth Avenue) entertainment district of Kyoto reveals that the newly emerging dance and dramatic
art of kabuki were performed in structures originally designed for no (see cat. 231).
The slow, stately performances of no — still practiced today — commonly have only two or three
performers, of whom the principal character nearly always wears a mask. No masks, even viewed out
of their performative context, where they help set the mood of the play, may be regarded as idealized

portrait sculpture of the highest rank, designed to capture the quintessence of specific categories of
human experience and emotion or beauty. As in Greek and Roman dramas, which like no were performed
exclusively by male actors, the mask was not used to add an element of suspense to dénouement scenes
but to create a persona — as the Latin word for "mask" suggests. In these classical theaters masks were
used to overlay the actor's individual presence with a role-specified gender, age, and personality type.
Although no masks have no moving parts, they were carefully crafted so that subtle emotional
nuances could be conveyed by an actor tilting a mask up or down to take advantage of shadowing
3
effects. In the case of masks for female roles, which are generally less expressive than those for male
roles, raising the mask into the light can help project a happier mood, while facing downward envelops
the mask in shadows to convey a somber, if not grief-stricken, expression. The masks for male roles
often convey extreme feelings of despair or the happy resignation of old age (cats. 210, 211).