William Vollmann - Kissing the Mask - Beauty, Understatement and Femininity in Japanese Noh Theater, with Some Thoughts on Muses (Especially Helga Testorf), Transgender Women, ... Geishas, Valkyries and Venus Figurines

MaiThe slow and stately form of dance most germane to Noh. Also practiced in some types of Kabuki.

MaikoAn apprentice geisha. (Lit.: “Dancing girl,” or “dance-child.”) This readily distinguishable individual is found only in Kyoto.

MehariRed makeup applied around an onnagata’s eyes.

MiekakureThe art of enhancing beauty through tantalization, concealment or delay. Example: a bit of garden seen behind a wall.

MiyabiCourtliness; often associated with Chinese culture or the capital. An example might be the erotic allure of a Heian noblewoman’s sleeve.

MugaSelf-effacing repetition of a task or performance until a perfect and egoless accomplishment is achieved.

Nochijite Shite of the second part. [Also: “Mojijite.”]

NokanA kind of Noh flute.

NuihakuA kind of small-sleeved satin Noh kimono with embroidery and surihaku , used mainly for female roles.

NyotaiFeminine mode of Noh dance.

ObiKimono sash. Often very ornate and expensive when used to perform beauty.

Obi-ageSilken obi support. More ornate and colorful for maikothan for geiko.

Obi-jimeBraid of an obi.Closed with a pocchiri. More ornate and colorful for maiko than for geiko.

OchayaA geisha teahouse. Traditionally, dancers and musicians perform in the hikae-no-ma , the waiting room or stage, while guests sit in the adjacent zashiki , or eating room. In Kanazawa, the Ochaya Shima in the Higashi Kurawa district displays such features and is currently open to visitors.

OkashiCheerful, amusing, delightful. For instance, kyogen humor; or the witty spitefulness of Sei Shonagon’s Pillow Book .

OkawaSee Otsuzumi.

OnnagataA female impersonator in Kabuki. Also called oyama , but the latter is much less respectful.

OshiroiWhite makeup worn by geishas and Kabuki actors. Once worn more generally among denizens of the Floating World.

OtsuzumiLarge hourglass Noh drum. Also called an okawa.

OzashikiGeisha entertainment.

PocchiriClasp for the obi of a woman’s kimono. More ornate for maikothan for geiko, who sometimes do not wear them at all.

SabiPleasant decrepitude not necessarily associated with melancholy. An example might be a fallen leaf or an old peasant hut.

San-san-kudoCeremony binding a new maikoto her geiko“elder sister.” Generally characteristic of wedding ceremonies.

SarugakuThe precursor to Noh. Literally, “monkey music.” A concatenation of juggleries, dances, etcetera. This word was frequently used by Zeami and his successors to refer to Noh.

ShintoOne of the two Japanese religions, coeval with Buddhism. It is difficult to describe briefly and accurately. Shinto has to do with agriculture and the links between Japanese and the land with its indigenous spirits. These links may be strengthened through purification ceremonies or weakened through such defilements as blood, sickness and death. See endnote to “the sin of human beings,” pp. 437–38. Mr. Mikata insisted to me that in the time that Noh dramas were written and set, “Shinto and Buddhism were very interrelated, with no conflict. It was in the Meiji era that Shinto and Buddhism were clearly separated.”

ShironureThe white makeup on a geisha’s face.

ShitePrincipal role in a Noh play.

ShungaErotic pictures, especially in ukiyo-e .

ShuraDamnation.

SurihakuA kind of Noh kimono (or usually under-kimono) characterized by short sleeves and foiled stenciling. Often employed for female roles.

TabiSplit-toed white socks worn by Noh actors, geisha dancers and many women in formal kimono.

TaikoA type of Noh drum, more rarely used than the others.

Takigi-NohTorchlight Noh performance, usually on a summer night on the grounds of a shrine. Said to have been practiced as early as 875 A.D., before Noh itself existed in its present form. One version (now often performed at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo) is yozakura-Noh , nighttime Noh beneath the cherry blossoms.

ToshimaA woman who emanates “mature charm.”

TsukiOne of the three sub-styles of certain young female Noh masks (ko-omote, waka-onna, zo onna , etc.), tsuki means Moon. The other two variants are yuki (snow) and hana (flower). Tsuki masks tend to have their noses tilted a trifle to the left. Yukis ’ noses tilt to the right. One actor describes a certain fushikizo thus: “It has a nose tilted to the left, which is the basic ‘Tsuki no Koomote,’ describing the characteristics of a waka-onna . On the back, the left eye is carved double, while the right is triple, which is unique and attractive… My late father Sakon loved it and used it every occasion he could. The details are concrete rather than abstract. The way the lower lip is positioned farther forward than the upper lip, and the gentle look of her almond eyes make her look like a modern beautiful woman.”

TsureThe companion or subordinate role to the shite .

TsuzumiHourglass-shaped shoulder drum employed both by geisha and by Noh musicians.

Ukiyo-eLiterally, “floating world picture.” Paintings and especially block prints of the pleasure quarters, theaters, kimono fashions, ephemeral beauties of nature, and suchlike subjects calculated to appeal to the escapist tendencies of the Edo period.

UshinConviction of feeling or of spirit. A more directly emotional style of classical poetry.

WabiThe beauty of loneliness, desolation, isolation, infinity. One design example given by Boyé Lafayette De Mente is a gold-flecked lacquered box that gives the impression of stars in the night sky.

WakiThe witness, whose perception frames and introduces the shite’s story as the narrator does the story of Wuthering Heights .

Yamato-eA stylized form of door- and screen-painting from the late Heian and Kamakura eras. It first came into being around 999. Women thus portrayed appear in expressionless profile or semi-profile, with small mouths, plump cheeks and simplified brush-stroke eyes.

YonbyoshiCollective term for the flute and three kinds of drums in the “Noh orchestra.” [Also transliterated: “Yonnbyoushi.”]

YugenIneffable beauty, often relating to the gaze. This term is often employed in descriptions of Noh. At first it was a Buddhist word meaning “obscure.” In the Heian period it became a poetic virtue.

YujoProstitute. The eponymous heroine of the Noh play “Yuya” was one of these. [Sometimes this word is transliterated “yuujo.”]

YukiSee tsuki.

Zashiki-Noh“Drawing room Noh.” Performances held in intimate settings — temples and the like. Cf. ozashiki.The brief discussion of “Michimori” in this book is based on a zashiki-Noh performance at Jumenji Temple.