EDO PERIOD (18TH CENTURY)

Kyogen has had deep links with noh plays since early times. One type is known as ai-kyogen which is performed during the interludes within the noh plays and thus integral to the noh plays for advancing the story. Although the Kyogen actors in general do not wear masks, there are some masks of animals or supernatural beings that cannot be represented with the uncovered face. Tobi is one of such masks and used in the ai-kyogen, specifically within the noh plays related to tengu, a legendary creature traditionally depicted with both human and avian characteristics, such as ‘Kurama Tengu’, ‘Kuruma zo’ and ‘Daie’. Although the name tobi refers to the black kite, this unearthly mask is thus actually strongly linked to the mask of tengu.

For a similar example of Tobi mask in the Tokugawa collection, see Tokugawa Yoshinobu, The Tokugawa Collection : No Robes and Masks (New York, 1977), pp.258-259.