Kyogen deals mostly with nameless characters involved in everyday situations. Basic to the art is that even those actors performing women's roles express their emotions with their own faces, for which reason, masks did not develop as they did in the Noh drama. Kyogen has about 20 different types of masks, depicting everything from old people and ugly women to non-human characters, including deities, ghosts, demons, and the spirits of animals and plants. All of them―whether they are laughing or exaggerated expressions―were designed and created in order to elicit laughter from the audience.
○ Ebisu; Daikoku; Bishamon; Fuku no Kami; Nobori-hige; Oji; Hana-biki; Buaku; Oto; Ama; Kentoku; Usofuki; Kitsune; Saru; Tanuki; Hakuzosu; etc.
The Nobori-hige mask is worn by the Ai-kyogen in a Noh drama in which he plays the role of the god of a subsidiary shrine. The smiling expression of its open, toothless mouth gives a better hint of human goodness than of sacredness. The Oto mask is often used to portray ugly women, but it is also used by characters who disguise themselves as the deity Jizo. The Buaku mask is like a Kyogen version of the Noh Beshimi, and although it is a demon mask, its humorous expression is not frightening. TheKentoku mask is used for the spirits of non-human beings, such as horses, cows, dogs, and crabs. TheUsofuki mask looks like it is whistling, and is used for the spirits of mosquitoes and mushrooms. TheKitsune mask is used for the old fox in Fox Trapping, the highest-ranking Kyogen play. In the Edo period, it seems that there were many realistic animal masks use, but today only the fox (Kitsune), monkey (Saru), and badger (Tanuki) remain.
COSTUMES
The costumes of Kyogen are patterned after the clothing of the ordinary people of medieval times; they are simple, yet incorporate many unconventional shapes and designs. Compared with the sumptuous weave of the elegant Noh costumes, the costumes in Kyogen are mostly dyed in light, attractive patterns. Costuming is determined based upon the type of character to be portrayed. Typical Kyogen costumes are those shown below.
○ Kyogen costumes (Coll. National Noh Theatre, etc.)
○ Outer robes (over robes): Kyogen kataginu,jutoku, naga-goromo, kaki-baori
○ Main robes (inner robes): Shima-noshime
○ Trousers (hakama): Kyogen-bakama, naga-kami-shimo, monpa
○ Other: various types of zukin, binan-boshi
The daimyo (feudal lords) that appear in Kyogen usually wear a dan-noshime as an under robe, a suosuit as trousers and vest / jacket, and a special cap (hora-eboshi). Taro Kaja, who might be said to be representative of Kyogen, usually wears a stripednoshime as an under robe, a kataginu as a kind of vest / jacket, and a pair of han-bakama (shorthakama) as trousers. One special characteristic of akataginu is that it is usually decorated with a free design of an animal, plant, or utensil that graphically depicts some theme from the character's daily life. On the half-hakama as well, pestles, sailboats, and giant radishes are often dyed in circular motifs, and on characters such as travelers, warrior priests, con-men, salesmen, and the spirits of plants or animals,kyakuhan (loose trousers that are tight fitting on the lower leg) are used, in order to indicate that they are very active. Almost all female characters wearnuihaku as under robes, and a special hat calledbinan-boshi. This is actually a 5-meter piece of white linen that is wrapped around the head, in such a way that long sections fall from the head down, like braids; the ends of these sections are tucked into the waist band. Unlike the white tabi (split-toed socks) worn by Noh actors, all Kyogen actors, even those taking the part of the ai-kyogen in a Noh play, wear yellow or brown tabi.
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