bugaku masks

Masks worn by performers of bugaku to embellish the ceremonial dances. Bugaku masks range from the abstract to the naturalistic to the fantastic; they sometimes have movable parts and attenuated features. Some of the earliest examples of bugaku masks are housed at the Tamukeyama Shrine, Nara, and date to 1052. Most extant masks date from the mid-Heian period to the Kamakura period (1185-1333). In the 12th century, considered the height of bugaku mask production, master Buddhist sculptors such as Insho, Shamon Gyomyo, and Jokei produced highly refined examples. Bugaku masks can be divided into three groups which loosely correlate with styles of bugaku dance. Performers of hiramai dances, which are slow and quiet, often don't wear masks and if they do they are typically close to human proportions. Dancers of bunomai, which are military dances, wear intensely expressive masks that have elongated faces with features such as flaring nostrils, glaring eyes and bushy eyebrows. Dancers of hashirimai, which are energetic running dances, wear animal or other non-human masks. Bogaku mask forms, like the dances, are also grouped into 'left' and 'right.'