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Costume changes and costume manipulation are scripted into the performance. The former range from on-stage donning of extra garments (monogi) to rearranging costume elements. Small adjustments in the draping of a costume often indicate a change of scene.
Adding costumes
Adding costumes
One-act plays often have a break where the shite retires to the kōken seat (stage right of the instrumentalists), kneels facing back, and allows the stage assistant (kōken) to change his costume. This monogi often consists of draping an outer robe over his costume. For example, in Hagoromo (The Feather Mantle), at the end of the first part, the fisherman finally agrees to return her feather robe to the moon maiden. After he hands it to her, she puts it on, or rather has it put on her by the stage assistants, while the instrumentalists play monogi music. The robe is a diaphanous chōken with wide flowing sleeves that will come into full play when she dances.
In Hagoromo, the donning of the chōken completes the moon maiden and enables her to “fly” back home. In Matsukaze a similar on-stage donning of a chōken, in this case, a keepsake robe left by her lover, transfers his spirit to her and she becomes temporarily possessed, dancing as one with him. This is called a “spirit shift” dance (utsurimai). The theme of gaining a personality by wearing something that belonged to someone else appears in many plays: Izutsu, Kakitsubata, and Futari Shizuka to name a few.
The monogi section of Hagoromo. Shite: Kongō Tatsunori. Photo: F. M. Fioravanti
Stripping costumes
Stripping costumes
At times a robe is taken off during the performance. In Tomoe, the woman warrior, after fending off the enemies with her halberd, follows her dying lord’s command and removes her armor and warrior’s cap (nashiuchi eboshi) before returning to the homeland.
She cut the upper cords. Gently took off her equipment and set it down. Likewise, she reverently removed. Her warrior’s cap. And pulled her kosode over her head (to hide her face).
In performance, Tomoe may symbolically remove only her tall cap and place it quietly on the stage.
In Dōjōji a woman emerges from under a bell as a jealous snakelike being. Inside the bell, the actor has loosened his outer karaori. When the bell rises the actor is crouched under the garment. Shortly afterward, he wraps the karaori around about him, and then like a snake casting off its skin, finally discards it, to release the true intent and reveal the snake figure, often symbolized by triangle patterns in the undergarments.
Sleeve manipulation
Sleeve manipulation
In addition to the dramatic use of garments such as described above for Dōjōji, there are several standard ways in which the broad open sleeves of the outer robes are manipulated during dances. Rather than having specific dramatic intent, these draw attention, add color, and serve to punctuate moments in the performance. They include:
Sode wo kakeru 袖を掛ける (Flipping the sleeve to the back and over the arm)
Sode wo maku 袖を巻く(Wrapping the sleeve around the arm)
Sode wo kazuku 袖をかづく (Raising the sleeve so it rests over the head)
The sleeves are flipped over the arms. Hagoromo. Shite: Kongō Tatsunori. Photo: F. M. Fioravanti.
Contributor: Monica Bethe
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