Dances

painted on whoopee cushions

2019

Noh, one of Japan's traditional performing arts, has a special program called "Okina".Okina means "old man" in Japanese and this program is composed of dances with masks depicting old man.

"Being similar in shape" is one of the important elements in Japanese faith. It is considered that the same spirit resides within the same shape.

"Dances", which uses some whoopee Cushions, was created based on the idea that the same spirit resides in the cushion because the shape of the cushion is similar to the Okina mask and the action of stepping the dance steps and sounding the ground is similar to the action of making the sound with the cushion.

The ancient spirit in which I am interested “Shaguji” is said to be identical to the Okina.

国立歴史民俗博物館名誉教授で民俗学者の上野和男さんは日本の信仰の本質を「付会」「習合」「形の呪術」の３つと仰っていますが、日本の信仰において「形が似ている」ということは重要な要素のひとつです。同じ形のものには同じ精神が宿るとされています。

私は能の中でも特別な演目である「翁」に興味があります。ブーブークッションの形を翁面に見立て、また地を踏み鳴らす行為と クッションで音を鳴らす行為の類似も踏まえて、もともとプリントされている 女性を踊っているようにマスキングし、彩色した作品です。