Artistic Research Of Tujia Nuo Mask

As a worldwide phenomenon of ancient culture, Nuo is originally an ancient witchcraft to expel ghosts and diseases.It is called "living fossil" of our ancient culture for it hosts thousands of years of China.As an important part of Chinese traditional culture,its performance form has experienced evolution of Nuo sacrifice, Nuo dance, and Nuo opera and it has gradually developed from pure religious nature to the combination of religious nature and entertainment. Nuo mask is one of the most important symbol and treasure of Chinese Nuo culture, as it directly reflects the development of Nuo culture and its history. Among various kinds of Nuo masks, Tujia Nuo Mask's characteristic is unique. Moreover, it shows the religious, cultural and folk consciousness of the Tujia, there is a profound cultural accumulation and the mass basis of it, it is the crystal of the Tujia people's wisdom.This paper is based on the developing of the Chinese Nuo culture, introduces and analyses the origin, classifications and characteristics of the Tujia Nuo mask. It is multifarious in styles and shapes, a lot of characters were vividly shaped by the methods of realization, exaggeration, distortion, fabrication and other decorative symbols. We emphasis the shape, color, craftwork and function of the masks, and investigate the divinity, the religious and primitive worship and folk-custom which the masks reflect. Furthermore, we compare the Tujia Nuo mask of Qian Dongbei,Xiang xi and E xi in origins, craftworks, shapes, colors and connotations, in order to realize the characteristic of Tujia nuo mask.In the process of fieldwork,I investigated the main Tujia area—Dejiang of Guizhou,Enshi of Hubei,Fenghuang of Hunan.Then, I collected data about Tujia religious culture, form of Nuo opera,shape of the Nuo mask and so on.In the meantime, I collected the documents at home and abroad by the network and library to supplement the collection of the fieldwork.Futhermore,I compared the Tujia Nuo mask of Qian Dongbei,Xiang xi and E xi to sum up its artistic characteristics and cultural value.As the art of mask and its cultural value draws more and more people's attention and it is widely used in diversified development, in-depth study of Tujia Nuo Mask will be conducive to make its move toward the world and let more literary, researchers recognize the importance of Tujia Nuo masks. Meanwhile we should carry forward the national culture, especially the Tujia Nuo Mask which represents the Chinese traditional culture to show the world that we are proud of the national art.