This mask is a contemporary example of a Namahage Demon from the Akita Prefecture. It is worn for a traditional Lunar New Year celebration which sounds like Halloween in reverse, as young men wear the masks and visit people’s houses to scare their children and admonish them to listen to their parents—or the demons will come back! The parents reward the young men with sake and food. Although frightening, Namahage are said to be gods who bring good fortune, an example of the beliefs connected to spirit worship traditions in which powerful demonic spirits can become protective when they are appeased. Check out the Japanese movies Onmyoji and Onmyoji 2 for a fun depiction of demonic possession and the Ying-Yang master that has to restore the balance.
Example of Kabuki makeup, from the book “Body Decoration” (see the book page for info)
The prevalence of such beliefs within the medieval Japanese culture allowed for the growth in Edo province of “Aragato,” the style of Kabuki theater which produced the famous makeup for its samurai hero and for the ghosts and demons he would battle. The origin of Kabuki and other Japanese theater in shamanic ritual and spirit worship is evident in the hero’s ability to do the impossible because they have allowed themselves to be possessed by a powerful kami (“supernatural deity”) and thus have become hitokami (“man-gods”).
I did a “how to paint a demon segment” on The CBS Early Show last Halloween
I find these multi-eyed demon faces are fun to paint on Dads at family events, their kids get a kick out of Dad looking so weird
I don’t know much about it, but I have heard that Japanese tattoo traditions can include using a demon image to “watch your back”
In addition to masks, I have looked for inspiration in theatrical makeup designs in Japanese horror and fantasy movies, and this idea was from a rougher sort of depiction of a demon I saw in a film.
Turning a demon concept into a vampire on a little girl
Ghost makeup from the Kabuki theatre. Color symbology is key, with reds being the colors for heroes – depicting their positive use of energy – and blues and greys signifying the stunted and misdirected energies of the evil, villains and ghosts
Painted at the Transworld Halloween Show, for a photographer from Hour 13 magazine — a blend of the Kabuki samurai pattern with the demon imagery
From the master printmaker Kuniyoshi, a detail from “The Earth Spider conjures up demons…” 1843. His work is full of imagery I have used to conjure new designs. The story behind the print, however, is that Kuniyoshi frequently used traditional subject matter like this to tweak the powers that be, and this print was read by the pubic at the time as a satiric attack on the government, with various of the demons being identified as caricatures of public officials.
Related articles
- The Eye of the Demon — a StoryFaces Performance to learn about the stage presentation I do based on the legends of the samurai and the demons that they fight
- Why Body Painting? – 2: Ultimate Collaboration – MODELS, Pt.2: Just how much a model can help, Amber and Kuniyoshi at FABAIC 2011 (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- Japanese Demons and Team Fortress 2 (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- From a mask to a painted face: https://thestorybehindthefaces.com/?s=from+a+mask+to+a+painted+face
- Kumadori – Japanese Kabuki Theatre Makeup (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- Watanabe No Tsuna and the Ibaraki Demon in Japanese Art (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- Oshiguma ― Kumadori ― Japanese Kabuki Theatre Makeup Prints ― “Leaving an Impression” (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- Storytelling in Japanese Art – Onmyoji and Raiko: Super Heroes Team-Up (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- The Legendary Watanabe no Tsuna Battles the Ibaraki Demon at Rashomon Bridge (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
[…] Japanese Demons and Kabuki Spooky (thestorybehindthefaces.com) […]
is this sites information actual cultural face paintings
Our methodology is to collect authentic imagery and cultural information, then re-create those images of faces we paint using our makeup and techniques as a way to learn about the design, leading to our creating new, original designs of our own based on what we learned from the cultural tradition. So in this post, and in others here about cultural facepainting, some of the images are authentic examples, some re-creations of my own and some original designs “in the style”—the foto captions and the © line on the fotos state which faces are my own paintings versus those which are from other sources.