National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

This is a mask produced by the dry lacquer technique called Kanshitsu. The left half of the upper part from its forehead is lost and there are holes on the tip of its nose and eyes. From the lost part, it is found that thin pieces of wood were wrapped around its forehead like a headband and then inserted between pieces of cloth. Also on the rim of the mask, very thin pieces of wood are placed like a rim cover (J. Fukurin). This is likely to be for the purpose of reinforcing the dry-lacquered mask, which are easily broken or distorted.