HANNYA MASK

Hannya

They say hannya has four expressions, anger, sorrow, jealousy and agony.

HANNYA MASK

And it might look as if it’s ashamed of its own pitiful appearance.

Hannya looks like an Oni, but it wasn’t originally an Oni. It used to be a human, a girl who went mad with jealousy and anger.

Hannya Mask

Hannya mask is a mask used in Noh, one of traditional Japanese plays, for female Oni. For example, “Dojo-ji temple (Anchin and Kiyohime)” is a very popular Noh story that a hanna mask is used.

Hannya mask in Dojo-ji temple

Hannya mask in Dojo-ji temple

The summary of Dojo-ji Temple

Anchin is a traveling monk. One day he stayed a house of village headman.

Kiyohime who was a daughter of the house fell in love with him though she should have known it was not allowed. He lied that he would come back and ran away from her.

She ran after him. He ran away. It’s a thin line between love and hate. Though she loved him she started to hate him while she was chasing him.

Kiyohime
Kiyohime

Finally she turned into a snake with distorted emotions and burnt him to death.

Phases of Hannya

The thing is that Hannya is still in progress. There are four phases, normal, Namanari, Chunari (Hannya) and Honnari (snake). 

ordinary times
bit upset
mad
turned into snake

Which stage is your girlfriend / wife at?

true nature

A girl revealed her true nature

Tebori Tattooist Ryugen, Roppongi Tokyo

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