Kitsune Masks - [Festival Masks]

•Tenko style: (The old or 'classic style' kitsune masks) - (also known as "Ryu" kitsune ("dragon, snapping") thes kitsune masks are often much more "beast like" in appearance, with a more pronounced snout, snapping teeth (similar to a dragon or lion parade mask) & hair extensions, usually paired with an elaborate costume. - These masks generally use red and other painted colour on white sparingly, rather than as an exaggerated or aesthetic pattern on the face, they are used as a way to highlight the mask's stern expression & details. [these older style masks also appear much more frequently at religious Shinto events & in noh theatre.]

• One noh play where in Kitsune & inari take part in is "Sanjo Kokaji" – a story about a renowned sword smith who was tasked with forging a katana for the emperor: Finding the task quite difficult to do alone, he goes to pray at an inari shrine, where he meets a boy who promises to become his smithing partner, but the boy vanishes before they can begin. - kokaji goes home and prepares, praying over his equipment before getting to work. once he finished: mysteriously; the sword was branded "kogitsune-maru" and is engraved with two names, "kokaji munechika" on the face and "kogitsune (little fox)" on the back! the boy was a fox in disguise, possessed kojaki, and helped him forge the blade!

[Available here today are White kitsune, Black kitsune & Tenko (golden eyed) -my Kitsune Ryu design is coming soon, for other designs visit my noh collection]