*Bugaku 舞楽 dance and mask *bugakumen 舞楽面 of a bestial creature. Classification (for terms see bugaku ): a dance of the Left sa-no-mai 左舞 said to have been introduced from China tōgaku 唐楽. The piece combines two legends, one about the flute-playing mountain ascetic *En no Gyōja 役行者 (act. 7th century) and the other about Prince Shōtoku (see *Shōtoku Taishi-zō 聖徳太子) playing his flute for the god of Mt. Shigi 信貴. Today an unmasked flautist plays a solo piece on stage.
Two recent masks labeled somakusha are housed at Itsukusima Jinja 厳島神社, Hiroshima Prefecture and Shitennōji 四天王寺, Osaka. Both masks show a long-haired, monkey-like face with large round eyeballs, profuse wrinkles and dangling tongue. On the other hand, the 12th-century sketches of old performances Shinzei kogaku-zu 信西古楽図 (Tokyo University of Fine Arts), depicts a goggle-eyed, leering, one-horned figure, not dissimilar to an unidentified mask in the *Shōsōin 正倉院 (8th century) of a horned and tusked animal face.