Noh and Kabuki: Masks and Costumes of the Noh Play Tsuchigumo

The Noh play Tsuchigumo is known for the extraordinary scene of a spider (tsuchigumo) spirit throwing paper web threads across the stage. It is popular as a gobanmemono (kiri-noh, the final play in a program), a play which features demons. In ancient times, tsuchigumo was also a derogatory term for the uncivilized native people not under the rule of the Yamato imperial government.

Specific types of costumes are worn in specific combinations by actors playing demon roles like the spider spirit. For instance, demon masks known as Shikami, Tobide and Beshimi are worn together with wide-sleeved gold brocade coats called happi and gold brocade hakama trousers known as hangire, which have wide folds. Powerful motifs are selected for the designs, such as stylized clouds, Buddhist wheels, water mills, lightning and undulating stripes.

Minamoto no Raiko, whom the spider attacks, is a young warrior who is ill. He wears a thin and elegant robe known as choken, which symbolizes his character in the play. Kocho is a mysterious woman character who appears to look after Raiko. She wears a lavish karaori robe and a Manbi mask which has a bewitching expression.

The materials and motifs of Noh costumes are essential elements in the dramatization of the characters of each role. In the Edo period, the rapid development of textile weaving techniques at Nishijin, the famed textile district in Kyoto, had a large influence on heavily-decorated Noh costumes with various motifs and patterns woven into the fabrics.