No mask, Jo type

This mask was used for performances of No, a musical dance-drama that developed within troupes who performed under the patronage of Japanese Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Such dramatic entertainments often followed religious ceremonies. Gods in human or supernatural form, ghosts, spirits, and demons are often characters in No plays. Plays often evoke the close interrelationship between gods and spirits and the human world. Masks with generalized features are worn by the male performers to enhance the performance of the role and to create the illusion of transformations onstage. In addition to being colored over a white ground, this mask would have had hair attached to form the moustache and beard. The features of the elderly man are sensitively carved, and the condition is typical for masks of similar age. Inscriptions on the rear indicated that the mask was donated to a Shinto shrine. Performances of No on simple, open-air stages were once widely performed in the precincts of Shinto shrines.