zōmen 蔵面

Offertory mask. Cloth or paper masks used in *bugaku 舞楽 in the pieces *Ama 案摩, *Soriko 蘇利古, and *Kotokuraku 胡徳楽. (For the role of the host kenpai 勧杯, a Japanese). A dancer wearing one of these rectangular masks would also wear a lacquer hat kanmuri 冠, held down by cords with flared brush-like decorations oikake おいかけ at cheek level camouflaging the sense of a piece of paper being placed in front of the face. Being perishable, paper masks are usually made a new for each performance. Also of cloth are the 8th-century *fusakumen 布作面, preserved in the *Shōsōin 正倉院. Repository of Tōdaiji 東大寺, Nara.