saru 猿

1　Monkey. The monkey is represented in kyōgen 狂言 by a masked and costumed figure. The monkey mask has a round or oval face with a large jutting-out jaw. The wide mouth is usually shut, and sometimes appears to smile; other masks have a cleft lip, open to reveal the teeth. The eyes are almond-shaped with large round pupils, and are often bordered by a series of parallel lines. Monkey masks may look young and perky, or old and sad. There are masks representing male and female monkeys of different ages, and even a father-in-law monkey and a groom monkey, who appear in the play Sarumuko 猿婿 (The Monkey Groom). Child monkey masks are used in the plays Utsubozaru 靱猿 (The Monkey Skin Quiver) and Saruzatō 猿座頭 (The Blind Man and the Monkey).
See *kyōgenmen 狂言面, *nōmen 能面.
2　Lit. "monkey." A monkey or cat bar or bolt, so named because of its ability to keep a door securely closed. Myth has it that once a monkey grasps an object, it will never release it. Thus, the name for one type of bar or bolt. A long, slender wooden bar attached to the stile *tatezan 竪桟, or rail san 桟, of a door. The most common saru, called yokozaru 横猿, are designed to slip into a catch horizontally. Others, called agezaru 上げ猿, can be moved up and down vertically from the top rail and inserted into a groove made on the head jamb *kamoi 鴨居 of sliding doors or rain shutters *amado 雨戸. Sagezaru 下げ猿 or otoshizaru 落し猿 are attached to a bottom rail and are pushed down into a groove on the threshold. The crosspiece provided to secure the bar is called yosezaru 寄猿. When the doors *shōji 障子, are flush, the bolt is called horikomizaru 彫込猿 or flush bolt. See *sarudo 猿戸.