Japanalia's Photoblog
Yoroboshi...........the folding screen
Posted by Japanalia (Yokohama, Japan) on 7 March 2008 in Art & Design.
.....by Shimomura Kanzan. The "crawling dragon" plum tree from my former posting served as model for the tree in this painting. It was created in 1915 in coloured ink and gold leaf on paper. Currently housed in the Tokyo National Museum and registered as an Important Cultural Property by the Agency for Cultural affairs.
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YOROBOSHI, the Noh play, is the story of a boy, falsely accused of a crime, and therefore driven out of the house by his father. The boy wanders around for a long time and endures a lot of sufferings which lead him to blindness. Finally he reaches the Tennoji Temple in Osaka, where he settles begging for alms. Meanwhile his father finds out the accusations have been false and goes in search of his son. He, too, reaches the same temple where he is reunited with his son and at the end of the play they go back home together.
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YOROBOSHI - the Noh mask - has many versions, but all have closed eyelids, starggly hair over the brow and a suffering expression.The mask is meant to show that the boy's blindness brought him closer in spirit to the beauty of the plum blossoms, causing him to appreciate the flowers through their fragrance.Although he is now blind, he has become one with the universe and can see all that surrounds him.
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YOROBOSHI is rendered in English as "priest with faltering step" OR "the beggar monk".
screen
folding
nihonga
shimomura
kanzan
