Come from Japan: Hyottoko, Okame and Konkichi Masks

It may accidentally, but it seems most Vietnamese people access to Japanese culture by exploring its stoic philosophy. Zen is the dominant ideological factor. Japan country appear in our mind through the Samurai, Geisha, Bonsai, Noh and even Tatami images. All of them must follow a strictly standard as a presentation for the stoic philosophy of Japanese spirit.

Japanese real life much more lively, the flow of folk culture brought in it numerous festivals throughout the year. The festivals filled with funny and even superstitious images, as an example for pure but variety culture of the Japan. Hyottoko masked dance festivals in Japan is a good example.

Poster of Summer Festival Hyuga Hyottoko (source: http://www.hyottoko.jp/fs/english/characters.html)

Masks of Hyottoko: Hyottoko is a clumsy man, he is very willing to work but fails at all the jobs he is given. Finally, the best thing he can do is keep the fire of his village which can help other peoples focus on fields. He used a tube of bamboo as a tool to blow the fire, so the fire blowing tube shaped appearance and personality of the character: a distorted and blackened face.

Hyottoko mask dance (source: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/06/11/features/index.html)

I saw the first mask of Hyottoko ten years ago while surfing through a souvenir shop at Narita Airport (Tokyo), in a short transit time of a trip to Italy. Image of a deformed face soaked cigar always stay in my head with a not answer question. At that time I did not know the cigar is his famous fire blower. Time passed until I had the first mask of Hyottoko collected in Kyoto during a short city tour three years ago.

My first Hyotoko mask

Hyottoko name means Fire Boy due to "hi" (Japanese is fire) and "ottoko" (Japanese is man). Because works on fire blow his face always describe in bunched mouth on a twisted face. In most of masks, mouth Hyottoko always suck a fire bellow with red spot on the tube head, in a few different types of masks, two eyes of Hyottoko are disproportionate. Hyottoko wear a red kimono with a green dots white scarf.

Hyottoko mask with one open, one close eyes

According to another legend in Iwate prefecture, there is a boy with strange faces who could create gold from his navel. It is believed that when put the boy mask on top of the stove, the families will be given to the prosperity. His name is Hyoutokusu; this is the origin of the common name Hyottoko later.

Here is another one of my Hyottoko mask, not made in Japan which is made in China, this one was collected in Shanghai on June this year

Another my Hyottoko mask which made in China

Mask of Okame: Okame also called Uzume or Otafuku, the name of a woman is considered the goddess of fun and very often seen in Japanese theatre. She is depicted in a round face shape, plus two chubby cheeks with always smiling eyes which makes people watching fun and impossible to forget. Some scholars said that when made her mask, Japanese were able to see her as representing an ideal form of feminine beauty in a certain period of its past.

Okame mask dance (source: https://www.pinterest.com/kitskyy/masks/)

Okame also a symbol of good luck and kindness: "Okame in the kitchen light, luckily mine / Okame at this table, luckily here" *. Local people believe that wear the Okame mask will be got more fortunate because it is the nature of this woman.

A paper Okame mask in my collection

My first Okame mask is a "disposable", a present from China of my brother. I had many memories with my daughter surrounding it. At my child infancy, she cannot eat without this mask, so the mask underwent many hard strokes more than a year until completed its task. Fortunately, it is plastic so despite tearing was not so fractious. Second memory is when I was driving my child to kindergarten, I do not understand why people facing just stared at her, going the distance I discovered my daughter was wearing a mask Okame, she is singing and shaking her head that give a funny image for people. I recognize is that wearing a mask in public is very stranger and more easily detectable, the experience is useful a lot in real life: if masked, wear a mask of human skin!

A plastic Okame mask in my collection

Time (about 7 years) and the climate did it stain, so that now it has little living sense better than plastic appearances at first. I intend to throw it away several times but my feeling against my thinking. Live will shows the vanity of the so-called "relations between people". The good or bad of a thing that has not change the "relationship" between me and it. Beautiful memories that related to it are something worth being preserved, so I abandoning the intention to break up with my Okame since.

Mask of Konkichi: Konkichi is an incarnate of the God Inari in the appearance of fox. Inari is the leading importance of gods of Shinto (Shinto okami). God Inari is responsible for fertility, rice, agriculture, money and business. The incarnation of the god Inari very diversify, as a man, as a woman, as intersex sometimes. In some legends Inari appears in the appearance of spider, dragon, snake or a fox with many tails depending on the meaning of each story.

God Inari in nine tails appearance (source: http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/inari)

In all incarnations, the fox is the most popular images of the gods. Perhaps this partly explains the special respected of Japanese for fox. Suddenly catch and see a fox is a lucky sign, have good behaviour with a fox will be repay by Inari God.

Myths and legends of Japan have many stories related to fox; it is believed that the fox can turn into people with extremely intelligent magic. Event people afraid to meet a beautiful lady at dawn or dusk because they think she may the reincarnation of a fox, not human. Below is a fox mask in my collection.

Fox mask (Konkichi or Kitsune)

In Japanese, fox called Kitsune. The more elderly the more powerful one, after living a century, the fox will have a tail and owns the ability to transformer into human being. The most powerful fox live thousands of years old, known as the nine tails fox, it hair becomes silver or gold and it can see everything at not limited distance. This is probably a good reason to explain why artists used to use yellow colour to paint on Inari mask as shown below.

Yellow emusion colour of the pattern on the fox forehead ( this mask was seen before a restaurant in Osaka on July 2010)

Yellow emusion colour surronding eyes is a popular type of Fox mask (source:http://okamimythology.tumblr.com/post/27965270948/ninetails)

Hyottoko, Okame and Konkichi in Hyuga summer festival: Japanese legends had a very common story called Fox Wedding (kitsune no yomeiri. Source: http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/japanese-fox-weddings) talks about fox transfer to women to seduce men. The story in Hyuga festival is completely opposite: fox became a man; he was seduced by lady and got loss in this love story. The special woman is hilarious Okame.

The story tell that long time ago, there is a beautiful and happiness couple Okame and her husband Hyosuke (or is Hyottoko) who wishes to have a child. Every day, they pray and worship with brown rice to God Inari. One day, a Shinto priest stolen the brown rice bowl to feed himself, that makes a strong angry of Inari. He appears in the form of a fox to punish the priest. Surprise, the fox was fascinated Okame beauty, so instead of going to fight the dance to seduce this woman. Fox robbed the woman but then her husband regained thanks to his beautiful dancing skill.

Summer Festival Hyottoko 2008 at Hyuga city, Miyazaki prefecture (source: https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB:Miyazaki_Shrine_Grand_Festival_in_2008_Hyottoko.jpg)

This is a street festival, participants are led by the sound of flutes, bells and drums in a pretty fertility dance with the butt shake movements. This festival appeared in the late Edo, early Meiji period, in order to celebrate a good harvest and thriving business.

It looks like the legendary gods in Japan are shown quite arbitrary. In the story above, the god Inari extremely important and is so powerful but very bad as a womanizer, Hyottoko too, are sometimes revered as the god of Fire, but here's a silly and stupid man. "Styles and tastes are subject to change, and the ancient Japanese might be surprised to learn that the name Okame is today sometimes used as a less-than-appreciated joking taunt by Japanese husbands and boyfriends who haven’t yet learned better "(source: Kurt Bell https://softypapa.wordpress.com/2007/08/20/okame-scarecrow/) It is difficult to clearly describe the character of the Japanese Gods, they are also very diverse and chaos as human being!

"Listen - God only exists in the human mind only. In particular, in Japan, God is always very volatile concept. Hey, here before the emperor is God, so that after the war, Douglas MacArthur ordered him to step down as not God, so he obeyed, even read a speech claiming he is just a normal person. So after 1946, he no longer is God anymore. That, Japan's God is that: can be twisted, adjusted easily "**. That is a dialogue in the novel Kafka on the Shore of the contemporary Japanese famous writer Haruki Murakami, which can tell us about the concept of the Japanese people about their Gods

"An American general suck an inexpensive pipe has ordered a statement then God is not God. It is a very specific of postmodern concept. If you think God exit, he will exit. If you think otherwise, no any God appear. And if God is then you have nothing to worry about "**. Why people quit their fogy believe to become civilized and modern so easy? Why Vietnamese people squirming with stranger Gods to keep their fancy articles and far from advance life day by day? Does the Vietnamese stoic philosophy than Japanese? If that's true, may we have put our national spirit to the land of ghost already!

Note:

* A piece of the Japanese pork poem often read to celebrated health and lucks (see more here: https://journeyingtothegoddess.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/goddess-okame/)

** Taken from the novel Kafka on the Shore, 325 pagem325, author Haruki Murakami, translated Duong Tuong, Nha Nam Publishing House and Literature Publishing House, 2007.