Hannya
The hannya (般若) is a mask used in a traditional Japanese Noh theater, representing a jealous female demon. It is characterized by two sharp bull-like horns, metallic eyes, and a leering mouth. In Noh plays, the type of mask changes according to the degree of jealousy, resentment, and anger of the female characters. The hannya is a mask that represents a female onryō (怨霊, vengeful spirit) even more resentful, jealous, and angry than the namanari (生成), a woman on the verge of becoming a demoness.
The hannya is also called chūnari (中成). The shinjya (真蛇), also called honnari (本成), is a mask that represents the appearance of a female onryō (vengeful spirit) that is even more intense than the hannya. These masks, which represent the jealousy, resentment, and anger of female demons, are classified as jya (蛇, snake) masks.
It is said that there are now more than 250 types of Noh masks, but the oldest historical record of Noh masks, Sarugaku dangi, mentions only about 14 types of masks, and the name hannya is not found among them. However, the Sarugaku dangi records a performance of the Noh play Aoi no Ue, and it is possible that snake-like demoness masks such as hannya were used.
The differentiation of mask types seems to have progressed in the 16th century, and the name hannya appears in the works of Shimoma Nakataka, a monk, samurai and Noh actor active from the 1580s to the 1610s.
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