Festival mask in the form of a Lion Dog (J. Shishi)

The mask is constructed from several pieces of wood, some fine grained (such as cypress), some coarser (perhaps a type of pine) around the hinges of the jaw and the tongue and jaw itself. The whole mask has been lined with a rough textile backing impregnated with lacquer in order to strengthen the construction. The textile can be clearly seen on the back left edge of the mask where the lacquer has been chipped, and appears to be a type of hemp. The lower jaw hinges on a simple cam system that operates around a horizontal rod which is pinned and slotted into two holes at the side of the mask. The tongue, also a separate piece of wood, is loosely pinned to the lower jaw and rests on a bevelled edge, which allows the tongue to flap about when the mouth of the shishi (a type of mythical lion-dog) opens. Each eye is constructed from two metal disks; the white of the eye is of gilded copper, the pupil is a copper disk painted black and has a split metal pin that goes through the gilded disk into the mask and opens to secure the eye to the body of the mask. The lacquered wooden mask of a shishi was traditionally worn by one performer while another, under a long cloth, made up the body of the beast. The jaws and tongue of the mask are moveable and the ears rotate. The shishi in this mask form is a rather comical creature, but was originally a more dignified and fearsome creature and the mask was used in Buddhist rituals and exorcisms, and in some early forms of masked drama such as Bugaku, a ritual performed at Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and at the imperial court.