AN UNUSUAL AND RARE ROOTWOOD NETSUKE DEPICTING USOFUKIUnsigned Japan, 18th-19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)The burled and knotted rootwood of an attractive grain and color, sparingly and yet expressively worked to depict the mask of a swine-like Usofuki with lips puckered in a whistle, the flattened, polished back with two asymmetrical himotoshi.HEIGHT 5.4 cmCondition: Excellent condition with minor wear and natural flaws.Provenance: Kunsthandel Klefisch, 14 June 2003, Cologne, lot 751 (illustrated on p. 197). European collection P. Jacquesson, acquired from the above.Usofuki (or Usobuki) is a Kyogen mask type which is not well standardized, but easily identifiable by the pursed or puckered lips, lending the mask (and the actor wearing it) a highly comical expression. The noun usobuki or usofuki is a gerund of the verb usobuku, which has many meanings: exhale sharply, whistle, hum, intone, howl or bay, pretend ignorance, and brag. A highly regarded ethnographer and linguist, the late Shinobu Orikuchi assigned a much earlier meaning to usobuku: taunt, oppose, and rebel. He specifically interpreted the pursed lips of old indigenous masks as signifying imminent speech, as the expression of seirei determined to speak out in defiance but constrained by the consequences of thereby acknowledging the authority of the kami.