Curtain - Maku

Japanese: 幕 - まく

A type of cloth shielding device. While manmaku (curtains) are made of cloth sewn vertically, manmaku (curtains) are characterized by long, wide pieces of cloth sewn horizontally, and were used for shielding and decoration. According to the Engishiki, in ancient times, manmaku was the name for something that covered the top, but later it came to mean a cloth used as a long screen that was stretched out to the side, like manmaku. Usually, the curtain was made of five pieces of cloth joined together horizontally, and in the Middle Ages, it was used exclusively in the camps of samurai families, so it was also called jinmaku. Jinmaku were often made of linen, had large dyed-in crests, and had small holes called monomitsu (watch holes) in the seams of the cloth. In the Edo period, crest-emblazoned curtains became common, and even townspeople always used them during ceremonies. In later times, any piece of cloth sewn together, regardless of its length or width, came to be called a curtain, and this term came to include curtains such as dow curtains, outer curtains (tomaku), inner curtains (uchimaku), and noren curtains, as well as curtains used in Noh and Kabuki theater.

[Mizuo Miyamoto]

Theater curtain

A cloth that separates the stage from the audience seats in a theater. It has been used in Western Europe since Roman times, but in Japan it began with early modern Kabuki. In medieval Noh and Kyogen, as well as early Kabuki, each performance was independent, so no curtains were necessary other than the agemaku used for entering and exiting the bridge, but as multi-act plays known as "tsuzuki kyogen" developed, it became an essential tool for staging. It is said to have been used for the first time in Edo in 1664 (Kanbun 4).

Western theatre and modern theatre influenced by it generally use a "doncho curtain" that opens and closes vertically, while opera generally uses a "curtain" that opens and closes from the center to the left and right, but Kabuki basically uses a "hikimaku" curtain that is opened and closed manually from left to right. The most representative hikimaku is the "joshiki curtain" made of three colours of cloth sewn together vertically: light green (moegi), black and persimmon, and these three colours are familiar as the colours that symbolise Kabuki. However, in the Edo period, only large theatres with official permission were allowed to use hikimaku, so small theatres generally used crude drop curtains, and the custom of calling small theatres "doncho theatre" and the actors who worked there "doncho actors" derogatorily developed.

In Kabuki, various curtains are used in addition to the hikimaku. The main ones are the solitary light yellow "asagimaku" (light onion) "dougumaku" (tool curtains) painted with pictures of mountains, waves, and ajiro fences (they are called mountain curtains, wave curtains, and ajiromaku depending on the picture), the "ichimonjimaku" (curtain) that hides the gap between the props on the stage and the ceiling, and the "sodemaku" (sleeve curtains) that hide parts of the stage that may be visible to the audience on either side of the stage. In general theater, the solitary black "kuromaku" (blackout curtains) are used as blackout curtains when changing props, but in Kabuki they are often used as a background to express the darkness of night.

In theater, one paragraph is generally called an "ichimaku" (act), and it carries great significance. The time between the end of one act and the opening of the next is called "makuai" (intermission), but even after the curtain is actually drawn, musical instruments and drums are used to keep the audience engaged, and when a change of scene is planned during that time, it is called "tsunagimaku" (connecting curtains). Also, in Kabuki, a "makusoto" (outside the curtain) performance is often used, in which the main character retreats down the runway after the curtain is drawn.

[Toshiaki Matsui]

[Reference] | Camp curtain | Curtain

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

布製の遮蔽(しゃへい)具の一種。幔幕(まんまく)が布を縦に縫い合わせるのに対して、もっぱら布を長く広く横に縫い合わせるのを特色とし、遮蔽、装飾として用いた。『延喜式(えんぎしき)』によると、古くは、幕は上を覆うものの呼び名であったが、のちには幔幕と同様、側面に長く張り渡した屏障(へいしょう)に用いる布のことをいった。幕は布を横に五幅(いつの)継ぎ合わせたものを普通とし、中世にはもっぱら武家の陣中に用いられたので、陣幕ともいわれた。陣幕には多く麻布が用いられ、大きく紋章を染め抜き、布の縫い目には、物見という小穴が設けられていた。江戸時代になると、紋章を入れた紋幕が一般化し、町家でも儀式の際にかならず使用することとなった。後世になると布の縦横にかかわらず、幾布も縫い合わせたものをすべて幕とよび、幔幕、外幕(とまく)、内幕(うちまく)、のれん幕などのほか、能楽や歌舞伎(かぶき)のものも幕というようになった。

［宮本瑞夫］

演劇の幕

劇場で舞台と客席を隔てる布。西欧ではローマ時代から使用されたが、日本では近世の歌舞伎に始まる。中世の能・狂言および初期の歌舞伎は各演目が独立していたので、橋懸りの出入りに使う揚幕(あげまく)以外に幕は必要なかったが、「続き狂言」とよばれる多幕物が発達するにつれて、演出に不可欠の道具となった。江戸では1664年（寛文4）に初めて使用されたという。

　西欧演劇、およびその影響を受けた現代の各演劇では上下に開閉する「緞帳(どんちょう)幕」を、またオペラでは中央から左右上方に開閉する「カーテン幕」を原則とするが、歌舞伎では左右に人力で開閉する「引幕(ひきまく)」を基本とする。引幕を代表するのは萌黄(もえぎ)（緑）、黒、柿(かき)の三色の布を縦に縫い合わせた「定式(じょうしき)幕」で、その三色は歌舞伎を象徴する色として親しまれている。ただし、江戸時代では官許を得た大劇場以外は引幕の使用を許されなかったので、一般に小劇場は粗末な緞帳を用い、小芝居を「緞帳芝居」、そこに出勤する俳優を「緞帳役者」と蔑称(べっしょう)するような習慣も生まれた。

　歌舞伎では引幕以外にも多様な幕が使われる。そのおもなものは、浅黄(あさぎ)（葱）一色の「浅黄幕」、山、浪(なみ)、網代(あじろ)塀などの絵が描いてある「道具幕」（絵によってそれぞれ山幕、浪幕、網代幕などとよぶ）、舞台に飾った装置と天井の間のすきまを隠す「一文字（幕）」、舞台左右の観客にアラが見えそうな部分を隠す「袖(そで)幕」など。なお、黒一色の「黒幕」は一般演劇では装置の転換をするときの暗転幕として使うが、歌舞伎では夜の暗黒を表現する背景として使うことが多い。

　総体に演劇では一段落を「一幕」といい、重要な意義をもつ。一幕が終わってから次の幕が開くまでの時間を「幕間(まくあい)」というが、実際には幕を引いても、鳴物、柝(き)などで観客の気分をつなぎ、その間に舞台転換を図るときには、とくに「つなぎ幕」という。また、歌舞伎では、幕を引いてから主人公が花道を引っ込む「幕外(まくそと)」の演出もしばしば行われる。

［松井俊諭］

[参照項目] | 陣幕 | 幔幕

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