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Costume and Masks for the Noh Play "Kamo"

  • Image of "Choken Coat (Noh Costume), Hananoshi bouquets and paulownias on purple ground, Edo period, 18th century "

    Choken Coat (Noh Costume), Hananoshi bouquets and paulownias on purple ground, Edo period, 18th century

    Japanese Gallery (Honkan) Room 9
    June 19, 2007 (Tue) - August 19, 2007 (Sun)

    Noh drama is thought to have originated as a performing art to bless the land and pray for a rich harvest. Waki-noh, the opening plays in a day of Noh performances, seem to retain the art's original nature; their contents are related to the origins of Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines, and bless the land of Japan and hope for a rich harvest. "Kamo" is one of waki-noh set at the Shimogamo shrine in Kyoto.

    The story involves a priest from Murono Myojin shrine in Harima province (present Hyogo prefecture) who visited the Shimogamo (Lower Kamo) Shrine near the Kamo River. He met two women at the river who were fetching water to offer the deity of Shimogamo shrine. When the priest asked them about the shrine's origins, they explained:

     "Long ago, a woman from the Hata family, who ruled the region, offered water to the deity every day ? in the morning and evening. When she saw a white-feathered arrow drifting downstream, she plucked it out and placed it among the eaves of her house. She then became pregnant and eventually gave birth to a boy. Three years later she asked the boy about his father and he pointed to the arrow. It became a thunderbolt, rose to heaven, and then became the thunder god, who is enshrined at Kamigamo Shrine. The boy and his mother also became deities of Matsuoka and Shimogamo Shrines, respectively. Together, the three became the deities of the three Kamo shrines-Kamigamo (Upper Kamo) Shrine, Matsuo Shrine, and Shimogamo (Lower Kamo)".
     

    The priest wondered about the two women, however, they turned into deities and disappeared. Shortly after this the mother deity of Shimogamo shrine (wearing choken and oguchi garments, a zo-onna mask and a crown) appeared and danced a heavenly woman's dance. Later, when the mother deity was soaking her sleeves in the cool river, thunder rumbled and rain started to fall as the thunder god (wearing otobide mask with golden skin and bulging eyes, and a gold brocade kariginu under atsuita garment) emerged from the sky. The thunder god showed his overwhelming power and explained to the priest about the virtue of gods that protect Japan. Then the mother deity retired into the shrine's forest and the thunder god returned to heaven. The rumbling of the thunder god's drum is thought to be a celebration in advance of a bountiful harvest.

 Major works in this exhibition

* Works listed below are in the TNM Collection unless otherwise indicated.
Choken Coat (Noh Costume), Hananoshi bouquets and paulownias on purple ground, Edo period, 18th century
Atsuita Garment (Noh Costume), Clouds, "arrow-screens" and triangles on red and green checkered ground, Edo period, 19th century
Exhibitions