{"product_id":"hyottoko-mask","title":"Hyottoko Mask 'Hifuki'","description":"\u003ch2\u003eHyottoko mask with a puckered mouth, one squinting eye and a spotted scarf tied on\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA face blowing on a fire, with a scarf on its head. This is the hyottoko, the clown of the Japanese festival, a glossy flesh-toned mask with the mouth puckered and pushed to one side as if blowing through a bamboo pipe, one eye squinting and the other round, fat round cheeks, painted eyebrows and forehead lines, and a blue spotted cloth scarf tied round the head and knotted at the side. It fastens with an elastic strap.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is the funniest thing in the shop and the most traditional, and it dances at the front of every festival procession in Japan with the fox and the old woman.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe name, Hifuki, is the fire-blower, which is what the puckered mouth is doing, and the older name of the character.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mask is moulded and finished in a high gloss, painted in a flesh tone with the brows, lines and lips brushed on, and the scarf is a separate cloth tied round the head and stitched at the knot so it stays. The eyes are open behind the painted ones and it fastens with an elastic strap.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWear it strapped and dance, which is what it is for, or hang it in a kitchen, which is where the character comes from: the hyottoko is the god of the hearth in the old houses, kept by the stove. It goes with a happi coat and a headband, and it goes with nothing at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mouth is the detail: it is pushed to one side and puckered into a round hole, and with the squinting eye it gives the mask a face caught mid-effort, which is the whole joke. The scarf is a blue cloth with black spots, tied as a country woman ties hers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHung on a wall it is a face in the room, and that is how most of them end up: on a nail by the door, over a desk, in a hallway where a guest meets it first. It is photographed at the same scale as every mask in the collection, so the pages compare.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWipe the face with a soft dry cloth; the scarf can be sponged. Keep it out of a hot car.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom across a room it is a pink face with a puckered mouth and a scarf. From close the gloss shows its depth, the eye its squint, and the scarf its spots. It is the mask for a festival and a person who wants the one that makes children laugh.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne size, adult or child. The mask covers the face and the strap adjusts.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"YONAKU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59207751172444,"sku":"14:771#Nude","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1055\/3386\/6332\/files\/hyottoko-mask-hifuki-1.jpg?v=1790585584","url":"https:\/\/yonaku.com\/products\/hyottoko-mask","provider":"YONAKU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}