This first stage of carving is called Arabori or Rough Carving The material used, the camphor tree In order to avoid the deformation of the masks The wood consequently becomes harder to carve It is said that the most difficult part of making the Kagura masks are the initial stages In the corner of the workshop, we are able to observe a great number of failed attempts However, Mr. Shogo has an amazing ability which not even his master is able to achieve... The polishing of the carving tools When the blade’s sharpness falls, Mr. Shogo immediately stops working and begins sharpening the blade If we take a look at the tip of the blade we can confirm that there is indeed a deformity in the tip of the blade There are three types of stones used to sharpen the blades The sharpening is carried out in three stages using each grindstone from the bigger rough grindstone to the finishing grindstone You can see that the deformity in the already sharpened blade has completely disappeared Mr. Shogo learned this skill by traveling across Japan and learning from various artisans in each region After that, he resumes his work and begins giving shape to the eyes and mouth Once the eyes, mouth, and nose are shaped, he begins to carve the back of the mask He refines the front of the mask while simultaneously working on the backside This is repeated until the thickness of the mask reaches 2 centimeters He then marks the openings of the eyes and uses a drill to open holes Then, he uses the same drill to make an opening at the mouth which later allows him to use a smaller saw to carve out the mouth Then he adjusts the eyebrows and opens up the nostrils. This marks the end of the first stage of carving The backside has been properly carved to 2 centimeters Next, he moves onto the fine carving process He chooses the appropriate tool and carefully begins carving on a millimetric scale He’s finished carving the rough and strong looking teeth Next, he begins to carve around the eyes To trace the eyes he inserts the blade and begins shaping the eye To shape the eyes and give them depth, he begins carving diagonally He repeats this many times to give the eyes their round shape Up next are the finishing touches...The polishing process Using sandpaper, Mr. Shogo polishes the surface of the mask for about 3 hours This is Mr. Shogo’s latest painstakingly crafted piece He has completed the Kagura mask of Tajikarao-no-Mikoto Will Shogo’s Master approve of his work? Comparing the mask made by the master although subtle, the chin line in Mr. Shogo’s mask is slightly crooked Mr. Shogo’s master has given his approval, although Mr. Shogo has only been a student for one and a half years Finally, Mr. Shogo was allowed to carve a women’s mask, the Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto mask First, we begin with a rough carving, the Arabori stage Using a predetermined mold passed throughout the ages he traces the shape of the mask and begins to carve Next, using the master’s work as reference he determines the point that will become the peak of the nose He then draws the contour lines that go from the nose to the eyebrows Then he begins to carve the excess wood The Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto does not have any extreme bumps except for the nose so trying to fix any mistakes after the fact will not work Amongst all, the cavities around the eyes have a great impact on the overall expression of the mask Therefore he must constantly use his fingers to check the master’s work and begin carving very carefully so as not to peel off too much wood At his side, there are some masks used for practice Up next, he begins shaping the mask from the mouth to the chin He only avoids the space marked by two lines coming from the nose He does that in order to make a mountain effect from both sides Once the mask begins to show some expressions, he flips it around And begins to excavate Looking at the example, the thinnest parts are just about 4 millimeters while the thicker parts go up to 7 millimeters That’s less than half of the thickness of the Tajikarao-no-Mikoto's mask. From here on he begins to work on shaping the nose While maintaining the balance between the different sections he once again begins to carve deeper around the contour in order to bring out the nose’s height As he finishes the rough carving, Mr. Shogo begins the fine work First are the eyes With a ruler and a compass, he measures and marks the distance between the eyes Furthermore, with the same principles, he measures the distance of each eye and draws a line He then proceeds to open a hole with a blade and begins sawing along the line The cut appears to have been misaligned But that’s okay The eyes are carved inside out starting at this line Like this, the eyes have been carved out However… Under the eyes of the mask made by the master there are eyebags To bring out these bulges, there is no other way but to carve deeper But as depth around the eyes changes, so will the expression of the mask Mr. Shogo tries to carve as little as possible to bring out the eyebags A touch of uneasiness flashes by his eyes Next, after shaping the nose, he begins to shape the mouth While looking at the example mask, the mouth opening barely allows the tiny saw through In short, this means that this cut can only be done once There is no room for error The mouth on Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto is not straight so he has to shave it down diagonally He’s executed it... wonderfully Then he shapes the teeth and the upper lip Firstly, he carves out the boundary line between the upper lip and the teeth He changes blades and carves down the teeth section Then he proceeded to arrange the lip’s shape Next is the lower lip Additionally, he carves the teeth one by one to bring out the feminine kindness and uniqueness of the mask After that, he carves out the last details. This marks the end of the fine carving stage In the final step, Mr. Shogo polishes the mask for about 1 and completes his first mask of Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto He immediately rushes to his master’s side I finished it How will he rate it? While comparing the master’s work to Mr. Shogos’s work It's apparent that a deeper carve around the eyes gives out a more melancholic feeling As expected, it may not have been such a good idea to carve deeper in order to make the eyebags After finishing his work, Mr. Shogo heads out to the holy land of the Ama-no-Iwato legend the Ama-no-Iwato shrine He’s there to borrow a Kagura mask that’s usually used in the festival This Kagura mask was crafted and offered to the shrine by his master, Mr. Hiroaki Beside the Kagura masks, Mr. Shogo borrows and brings back home various items used in the festival Mr. Shogo was only 2 years old the last time the Yokagura took place in the Kudo household Therefore he does not have any recollection of it. This is his first time seeing all of the Yokagura masks up close The Yokagura festival is carried out separately in the 20 districts of Takachiho As a result, each district owns its own sets and different varieties of masks. Up until today, the Kudo household has made the Kagura masks of 4 other districts Here, in the Iwato district, the only mask made by the Kudo household is the one of Sukuna-Hikona-no-Mikoto This mask was made 12 years ago by Mr. Hiroaki The rest of the masks were crafted around 100 years ago It is said that once a god inhabits a mask, it lives there forever And unless something extreme were to happen to the mask, a replacement will never be made Once the dance is over, the dancer takes off his mask Surprisingly, we find Mr. Hiroaki under the mask Over 25 years ago, as Mr. Hiroaki was just learning his craft, he simultaneously began training as a dancer He thought this would allow him to create better masks He thought that the performances and the great dancers that brought out the various facets of the masks could liven up the atmosphere and endlessly entertain the people in the room Each mask has its own personality Consequently, each dance has to be performed with refined motions This performance by the name of Yatsubachi, makes use of Mr. Hiroaki’s mask It represents how Sukuna-Hikona-no-Mikoto celebrated Susano-no-Mikoto's wedding The Kagura masks charm the people and create a wave of laughter through the room. What kind of feelings must Mr. Shogo be having while watching the performance? After having this experience, Mr. Shogo has a new resolution Mr. Shogo, who chose this path because of his admiration for his father and grandfather will be the same age as his current master by the time the next Yokagura takes place at his household By that time, he will have become a unique Kagura mask carver in the town For now, he will devote himself to training in order to open a door to tomorrow and with this take a step closer to his dreams.
