ōmionna 近江女

Woman of ōmi. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a young-to-middle-aged woman. The high, thin eyebrows and hair strands are similar to *wakaonna 若女, but the heavier eye lids whose outer corners droop down, the tighter lips, and the less-full cheeks lend the mask a maturity and strong emotionalism. A sense of lurking coquetry can be seen in the scarlet flush to the upper lip and cheeks. The lower teeth, barely visible behind the lip, form a unique feature not seen in any other women's masks and suggest ōmionna's tenacity of attachment. The expressive immediacy of this mask typifies a commoner, as opposed to a court lady, more appropriately represented by a mask of elegant reserve, such as *fushikizō 節木増 or wakaonna. The slightly rounded pupil openings of ōmionna, reminiscent of *deigan 泥眼, reflect an old prototype used by the ōmi sarugaku 近江申楽 troupe centered at the southern edge of Lake Biwa 琵琶. The ōmi sarugaku women's masks, with their strong emotional appeal, were to inspire the women's masks of the yamatosarugaku 大和申楽 troupes (the ancestors of the modern Noh schools).
Ōmionna can be used by all schools for roles of intense passion, such as the dancer who once wished to marry an unrequiting priest appearing in the first act of Dōjōji 道成寺, or a village woman who later turns into a venomous spirit in Sesshōseki 殺生石 (Death Rock). An old mask attributed to the Muromachi period carver Echi 越智 and possibly that which Zeami Motokiyo 世阿弥元清 (1363-1443) comments on as being "mature, yet fleshy"in the Sarugaku dangi 申楽談義 (1430), is presently owned by the head of the Kanze 観世 school.