dōji 童子

Lit. child, young boy.

1　A boy between 8 and 20 years old living in a Buddhist temple. He studies the sutras and performs various errands as part of his training to become a monk.

2　Boy attendants to Buddhist deities like *Fudō Myōō 不動明王 and *Monju 文殊. Fudō Myōō, for example, has as many as 36 boy attendants, of whom 8 are called the *Hachidai Dōji 八大童子. The best known are *Kongara Dōji 矜羯羅童子 and *Seitaka Dōji 制た迦童子. Often portrayed beside Fudō, they can be seen in the early 14th-century scrolls by Takuma Chōga 詫磨長賀 in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

3　A Noh mask, *nōmen 能面, representing a young boy with the fairy-like quality of eternal youth. The smooth, oval face, arched eyebrows, and lack of lower teeth all contribute to an overall impression of gentle good-naturedness. Dōji is very similar in form to the mask *jidō 慈童, being distinguished primarily by a somewhat narrower breadth, more arched eyebrows, and lack of dimples on the cheeks. Traditionally used by all schools but Kanze, 観世 (which uses jidō), in such plays as Makurajidō 枕慈童 and Kikujidō 菊慈童, where the main character celebrates an auspicious imperial reign by presenting water from the Fountain of Youth to the emperor's messenger. Other uses for dōji include the first acts of Iwafune 岩船, Tamura 田村, Kokaji 小鍛冶, and other plays where the innocent features conceal a benign supernatural agent. The Kongō 金剛 school model mask, honmen 本面, now owned by the Mitsuii 三井 family, is a fine Momoyama period example with an inscription by the 17th-century carver Deme Genkyū 出目元休, attributing it (probably erroneously) to the 15th-century carver Chigusa 千種. The expert copier Deme Yūkan Mitsuyasu 出目友閑満康 (d. 1652) also made fine examples. Variations include dōji with a black rim across the forehead instead of thin bangs called kanmurigata dōji 冠形童子. In addition, for such plays as Ōeyama 大江山, where dōji later turns out to be a demon, a more rakish mask, shitadashi dōji 舌出し童子, is used. It has a small forehead, high cheek bones, and leering smile exposing a bit of the tongue. Another variant is jūroku dōji 十六童子.