The Mountain Hag-- Yamauba/ Yamanba

Yamanba by Toriyama Sekien, The Illustrated Night Procession of Hundred Demons: Yin

After snow woman, I found another female character from The Night Procession of Hundred Demons, the mountain hag. This old woman was depicted in several form. Sekien's illustrated it with the impression of the primitive; Utamaro and Chikanobu saw mountain hag with the characteristic of motherhood; Utagawa draw the actoress that act as yamauba. The mountain hag is also a popular character in Noh performance, a Japanese traditional stage performance, characterised as a witch living in the wood and kept traveler in her house by summon bad weather (the-noh.com, n.d.).

足柄山中　山姥・怪童丸 (Chikanobu, 1890)

Yamauba Nursing Kintoki (Utamaro,K., 1801-1803)

Yamauba and Kaidomaru (Utagawa, T., 1848-1854)

Shosagoto characters Mitanoshi and Yamauba (Utagawa, T., 1848-1854)

"Shiki no Yamamba" was composed as a concert piece by Kineya Kangor6 (1829-77), 12 though it is used today as a dance piece as well. it was first performed in concert form on March 7, 1862.

Photograph of Yamauba in Noh performance (Japanese Performing Arts Centre,  n.d.)

Noh drama "Yamanba" (the hakuto variation) (Kyoto University, 2014)

Noh Theatre Performance of Yamanba [video screenshot] (Bethe,M., Brazell, K., 2006)

The outcome of the research is interesting, especially when the character involve in the concept of performance. I am interest in its changing of visual figure and story when perform in different medium. Here I am attracted by the meaning demonstrated through the pattern of kimono. Kimono of stage performance for mountain hag often are printed in theme of flower and plants, even abstractly. The print has became a supportive evidence for traits of mountain hag. 

[sketchbook]

study pattern of kimono [sketchbook]

Images Reference:

Bethe, M., Brazell, K., (2006, Jul 25). Noh Theatre Performance of Yamanba [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/3339

Chikanobu, . (1890). 足柄山中　山姥・怪童丸. [Ukiyo-e]. Retrieved from http://morimiya.net/online/ukiyoe-syousai/K001.html.

Japanese Performing Arts Resource Centre  [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.glopad.org/jparc/?q=en/noh_performance/costumes/yamanba.

Kyoto University. (2014). Noh drama "Yamanba" (the hakuto variation). [Photograph]. , retrieved from http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/about/events_news/office/gakumu/gakusei/news/2014/141217_1.html.

Malm, W. P.. (1978). "Four Seasons of the Old Mountain Woman": An Example of Japanese "Nagauta" Text Setting. Journal of the American Musicological Society, 31(1), 83–117. http://doi.org.libaccess.hud.ac.uk/10.2307/831386

the-noh.com. (n.d.). Yamamba (Mountain Crone): Synopsis and Highlight. Retrieved from http://www.the-noh.com/en/plays/data/program_046.html.

Utagawa, T. (between 1848 and 1854). Shosagoto characters Mitanoshi and Yamauba. [woodcut, color]. , retrived from http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/jpd.02889/.

Utagawa, T. (between 1848 and 1854). Yamauba and Kaidōmaru. [woodcut, color]. Retrived from http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008660481/.

Utamaro, K. (1801-1803). Yamauba Nursing Kintoki. [Woodblock Print]. Retrieved from http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/yamauba-nursing-kintoki-321109.