Masks and Costumes from the Noh Play, Momijigari

In keeping with the season of autumn, this exhibition presents Edo-period masks and costumes from the Noh play, Momijigari (lit., "autumn-leaf viewing"). To this day, the play is commonly performed in autumn. Set at Mount Togakushi in Shinano province, it tells the following story.

Out deer-hunting one day with his retainers, the late Heian-period warlord Taira-no-Koremochi comes across a beautiful noblewoman picnicking with her female companions under the autumn leaves, and accepts an invitation to drink with them. In time, he becomes mesmerized by the noblewoman's elegant dancing, and falls asleep with his cup in hand. Seeing this, the women vanish.

Koremochi wakes to see a female demon appear before him: the woman he had been so enchanted by earlier is, in fact, a demon who preys on human flesh. Grasping the sword by his side, brought by a deity who visited Koremochi as he dreamt, Koremochi fights the demon and eventually drives it away.

The dramatic change in appearance of the central female character is one of the highlights of the play. As a noblewoman, the character initially wears the stoically beautiful Zo-onna mask and luxuriant karaori garments adorned with courtly motifs. But when she returns to the stage as a demon, it is with the glaring eyes and snarling mouth of the Shikami mask and wild red hair.

In Noh, costumes and masks differ subtly with each production, and being attentive to this can offer a fresh perspective on even the most familiar of plays.