Hanatakatengu Tengu - [Festival Masks]

Hanatakatengu Tengu - (鼻高天狗) - "Tall-nosed tengu" "👺" - [Noh/Festival Masks]

• About this mask: The iconic; stern red faced long nosed Dai-tengu are said to have been too vain to get into heaven but also too proud to go to hell. Tengu are noble, powerful frightening, avian yokai with powers rivalling that of a demigod. - its said they where experts in sword fighting  are able to speak without moving their mouths and are able to teleport anywhere in the blink of an eye!! (Even into your dreams!) - Its said; the longer the nose the more powerful the tengu! 

Displaying a Dai-tengu mask is said to scare away evil spirits & bad yokai. - At celebrations in mountain side towns, You will often see parade leaders & dancers wearing this mask! 

You might also sometimes see a gigantic tengu mask being carried in a framed portable shrine box (sometimes called a Mikoshi; they can get much bigger. than the ones pictured below) - [This custom features prominently in art and was said to have been made famous by Hiroshige Utagawa's Fifty-three Stations of the Tôkaidô Road.]

[image source images are from edo period.]

[For a little bit more about various types of tengu, check out see my tengu collection!]