Bugaku Masks

by Monica Bethe, Kyotaro Nishikawa

Contents

Table of Japanese Art Periods
List of illustrations

Introduction: The Bugaku Dance (by Monica Bethe)
1. Historical background
2. Types of masks
3. Masks in the provinces
4. Technical aspects
5. Inscriptions and mask carvers

Appendix 1: Places to see performances and masks
Appendix 2: Datable masks
Appendix 3: Bugaku masks in Japan
List of illustrations in Japanese
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

196 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Alejandro Teruel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and detailed reference book on the carved wooden masks used in Japanese Bugaku dances with a very helpful introduction for the non-Japanese reader by its translator, Monica Bethe. The following paragraph is heavily based on this introduction.

Bugaku dances were introduced into Japan from Korea and China from 500 AD and reached their heyday in the Heian period (782-1184). The oldest written treatise on Bukagu is the ten volume Kyōkunshō ("Book of Instructions") by Koma Chikazane which dates from 1233 , In Japan they were official court dances and are still performed today accompanied by a Gagaku orchestra, consisting of percussion and wind instruments. A different mask is used for each kind of bugaku dance. These masks are considered art objects and in many ways can be said to stand between the Gigaku masks of foreign origin and the purely Japanese Nō masks. They may include movable parts like rolling eyes, dangling chins, jiggling cheeks or swaying noses and they represent barbarians, demons, animals such as cranes or dragons as well as moods rather than human types or historical figures.

Some of the photograhic reproductions look somewhat faded quality, but a quick internet search will provide glossier photographs, but without the detailed notes and descriptions provided by the book.