Artwork Title: Dōnotsura

Dōnotsura, 2016

Matthew Meyer

Artwork Title: DōnotsuraArtwork Title: Dōnotsura
胴面 Dōnotsura’s body appears much like that of a human’s, except that it is missing everything from the neck up. Its extremely large facial features are prominently displayed on its torso, just as its name implies. Dōnotsura appears on yōkai picture scrolls, but only his name and illustration appear. Like many picture scroll yōkai, no stories exist explaining what it does or where it comes from. However, its most likely origin is as a play on words. There is an expression in Japanese—“dono tsura sagete”—which is used to scold a person who looks inappropriately calm when they should be ashamed of something they’ve done. The connotation of this idiom is to lower a mask over one’s face, as in, “How dare you come here wearing that face!”; however, taken literally it means to “lower a face,” just as this yōkai’s face has been lowered down to his torso.

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