Still from The Sound of the Mountain (1954).
Shingo put on his glasses and started to untwist the cord; and the moment he could see them clearly the hair and lips of the jido mask struck him as so beautiful that he wanted to cry out in surprise.
When Suzumoto had left, Eiko came to his desk.
"Isn't it beautiful."
Eiko nodded silently.
"Put it on for a minute."
"But that would be all wrong. Here I am in foreign clothes." When Shingo handed her the mask, however, she put it on and tied the cord.
"Move your head, very gently."
Standing before him, Eiko moved her head this way and that.
"Good. Very good." The words came of their own accord. Even with so little movement, the mask quite came to life. Eiko had on a russet dress, and her hair sent waves cascading at the sides of the mask, but she had taken on a charm that held him captive.
"Is that enough?"
"Yes." Shingo immediately sent Eiko out to buy a reference work on No masks.
Kawabata, The Sound of the Mountain (trans. Edward Seidensticker), pages 85-6.
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