能面 橋姫 Noumen Hashi-hime Noh Mask Hashihime
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The Hashihime mask is used in the play “Uji no Hashihime (Bridge Princess).” In the story, a woman, whose husband had abandoned her and married to another woman, gets enraged by jealousy and goes to the Kibune Shrine, where she petitions the gods to turn her into a demon so that she can have revenge. She is told by the shrine priest that if she wears a red kimono, paints her face red, puts on an iron ring with burning candles on her head and has the flame of rage in her mind, she will be able to become a demon. She does as she is told, and then her ex-husband begins to suffer from a nightmare. When he consults an Onmyoji about his dream, he is told that he will be killed by the woman’s deep grudge on this night. Astonished with this oracle, he asks the Onmyoji to offer a prayer, when the living spirit of the jealous woman taking on the form of the demon appears and tries to take him away. The mask used in this scene is the Hashihime mask. Expressing the jealous mind and worldly karma that a woman bears, the mask has the pale forehead with lines of bursting veins, the clenched teeth, and the eyes slanting upward. It has a furious but somewhat sorrowful countenance.
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- Noh Mask Hashihime