ama 尼

Lit. nun. A character in kyōgen 狂言 plays, represented by a masked figure *kyōgenmen 狂言面. Two different types of masks are used to play nuns' roles in kyōgen. One is sad, sometimes known as nakiama 泣尼. It has no hair since the head is usually covered by a white cloth head-dress. This mask is used to represent an old nun in plays like Nakiama 泣尼 (The Crying Nun). Another type of mask represents the aged priestess bikuni 比丘尼 or oryō 御寮 in two plays, Bikusada 比丘貞 (The Aged Nun and Bikusada) and Iori-no-ume 庵の梅 (The Plum Blossom Hut). Bikuni's mask is calm and outward-looking with a quality of refinement or elegance. These features are said to show more affinity with *Noh masks *nōmen 能面 than with typical kyōgen characters.