Mango Yamabushi & MushZooms 2.0 Costumes

Mango Yamabushi and MushZooms 2.0 are both very different pieces. Mango Yamabushi takes place on Kauaʻi and centers around a yamabushi (mountain priest) on a pilgrimage, who is overcome by hunger, begins snacking on a farmer’s mangoes, and as is wont to happen in kyōgen, antics ensue! For this production it was important to us as a design team to move visually from the traditionally represented kyōgen, presented by our partners in Japan, and slowly take our pieces in a more and more free-form direction.

Mango Yamabushi, being the first student piece, is the most traditional of the program (after the classical kyōgen play, Sword Stealing (Tachiubai) presented by our teachers). However, while the Yamabushi’s dressing style is that of a traditional kyōgen yamabushi, he wears the white colors of a modern-day Japanese yamabushi, thus combining both the modern with the traditional. The Farmer, on the other hand, is from Kauaʻi. In the original kyōgen piece, Kaki Yamabushi (Persimmon Yamabushi), this character is a landowner of higher status and would traditionally wear a matching top and bottom nagabakama (“long hakama (pants)”) set to indicate his social rank. Since a farmer does not have the same rank as a landowner in the world of kyōgen, we changed the nagabakama set to the kataginu (vest) and hanbakama (“short hakama”) of a lower status character. The hakama themselves then transformed into pleated pants to make dressing easier. The kimono was made out of a traditional Hawaiian fabric, palaka. The mon (crests) both characters wear represent both the action of the play and the place – the chicken on the Yamabushi and plumerias on the Farmerʻs pants are both reflective of where and when we are.

MushZooms 2.0 follows the traditional structure of a kyōgen, but takes place very much in the here and now, our modern Zoom-scape! It follows a woman who works from home, who is having some… mushroom-y problems with her Zoom. She contacts a Zoom IT specialist, and that’s all I’ll say! It was a delight to design and work on, and I hope you enjoy both Mango Yamabushi and MushZooms 2.0 and all their lovely shenanigans!

– Isabella Dixon

*For more costume information for MushZooms 2.0, please click here for more info. But be warned, the page does contain spoilers so we recommend you come back after you have seen the show!

  • A costume rendering of a person in a white kimono, white hakama tied up under the knee, a small black hat, and green bobbles around their neck.
    Costume rendering for the Yamabushi’s costume in Mango Yamabushi.
  • Costume rendering of a man in a blue and white palaka kimono and a purple hakama with a plumeria crest pattern.
    Costume rendering for the Farmer’s costume in Mango Yamabushi.
  • A costume rendering of a person in a white kimono, white hakama tied up under the knee, a small black hat, and green bobbles around their neck against a gold background.
    Costume rendering for the Yamabushi’s costume in Mango Yamabushi.
  • Costume rendering of a man in a blue and white palaka kimono and a purple hakama with a plumeria crest pattern against a gold background.
    Original costume rendering of the Farmer’s costume for Mango Yamabushi. The green hakama pants were later changed to purple after taking the virtual background into consideration.
  • An actor stands in front of a green screen as a costume designer adjusts her white yamabushi kimono. She also wears green pompoms and a small, round, black hat
    Hannah Schauer helps Christine Chang put on her yamabushi costume.
  • An actor stands in front of a green screen in a blue palaka kimono with a purple hakama with plumeria crests and a white koshi-obi.
    Robert Torigoe as the Farmer during a costume fitting for Mango Yamabushi.
  • A circular crest with a simple black and white illustration of a rooster.
    A rooster mon (crest) designed for the Yamabushi’s costume in Mango Yamabushi.
  • A black, circular crest that features a black plumeria illustration in the center.
    A plumeria mon (crest) designed for the Farmer’s costume in Mango Yamabushi.
  • A woman in a white yamabushi's costume with green pompoms stands in front of a blue screen on a wooden floor
    Christine Chang as the Yamabushi in Mango Yamabushi.
  • A man in a blue and white palaka kimono and purple pants with white and yellow plumeria crest holding a fan stands on a wooden floor in front of a green screen.
    Robert Torigoe as the Farmer in Mango Yamabushi.
  • An actor in white yamabushi regalia with green pompoms and an actor with a blue palaka kimono top and plumeria patterned purple hakama stand in front of a pine tree backdrop on a wooden floor
    A digitally edited photo to show conceptually what the two actors would look like in the same space.
  • A screenshot of two actors, a woman in a black top and black headset and a man in a blue shirt, red lanyard, and nametag against gold illustrated backgrounds.
    Catherine Restivo and Robert Torigoe in full costume performing in MushZooms 2.0.