### Mask Introduction
**Mountain-Opening, also known as "Mountain-Opening Fierce General" or "Mountain-Opening Brave General," is an important fierce deity in the main play "Mountain-Opening Brave General" of Nuo Hall Opera. In addition to serving as a fierce god to cleanse the Nuo altar, he also bears the important responsibility of expelling evil, capturing demons, and retrieving the lost souls of patients.**
Male painted face character, with two horns on the head, a mouth full of fangs, protruding eyeballs, and a very fierce facial expression.
Guizhou Nuo Hall Opera is an important category in the Nuo opera family, with strong religious and sacrificial characteristics, most widely spread in eastern and northern Guizhou. Nuo Hall Opera masks have rich and heavy colors, emphasizing the portrayal of character personalities. There are many roles, which can be roughly divided into three categories: "righteous gods" with gentle, upright, and kind personalities; "fierce gods" with fierce, brave, and majestic appearances; and secular characters close to real life.
The Mountain-Opening Brave General is a fierce general in Nuo Hall Opera, specializing in slaying demons and monsters. Folk artists use exaggerated and bold techniques to portray this "fierce god's" character of hating evil. He has a ferocious face, bizarre image, bulging eyes, exposed fangs, and eyebrows like two flames, making people fear at first sight. This mask has movable parts for the eyes and lower jaw, further highlighting the character's personality and enhancing the performance effect. This character is a fierce general who slays the five plagues in Nuo Hall Opera and is one of the most ferocious demon-subduing deities in the Nuo hall.
Nuo Hall Opera, also known as "Nuo Vow Opera," "Nuo Wish Opera," "Duangong Opera," etc., is a type of Nuo opera art widely spread among the people, mainly distributed in ethnic minority areas of Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Yunnan.
### Legend of the Mountain-Opening Brave General
Long ago, in Kaiyang Prefecture, there was a man called Mountain-Opening. He had bulging eyes, erect ears, exposed front teeth, protruding neck veins, and a very fierce appearance. It's commonly said that pregnancy lasts one day of conception and nine months of gestation. However, Mountain-Opening's mother carried him for twelve full months. His mother had a difficult pregnancy and often went to divine before the gods, draw lots in temples, and burn incense to worship Buddha, but the fetus in her womb still couldn't be born. She then heard that the divination of Duke Zhou and King Wen was most effective, so she set up an incense altar to seek divination from them. After hearing her situation, Duke Zhou and King Wen found it strange, so they used the incense altar to summon spirits and threw a handful of small copper coins on the ground. When the first coin fell, Duke Zhou and King Wen looked and told her, "There's a demon causing trouble in your room." When the second coin fell, they told her again, "Your life might be in danger." When the third coin fell, they saw that a little general was born in the room. When Mountain-Opening was born, he cried three times, shaking the earth and mountains, causing beasts to run and horses to fly. Even Old Lady Tang in the Peach Garden Cave was alarmed and came hurriedly to see whose child was crying. When Old Lady Tang looked closely, she saw that this infant had seven inches of red hair on his back and a pair of vermilion horns on his head. At this time, he was neither crying nor fussing, but was wildly flailing his limbs on the ground playing. Looking again, she saw that his mother had already died. So Old Lady Tang wrapped Mountain-Opening in eight silk skirts and took him to the Peach Garden Cave to nurture him.
Mountain-Opening needed to eat one dan and two dou of rice per meal, had thirty-six teeth in his mouth, and could eat four liang of iron filings if hungry, or nine jin of dried cowhide. Every day he would go to the lemon tree outside the cave to scratch himself and to the soapberry tree to turn over. As he grew up, his strength became terrifying. Ordinary knives, spears, sticks, and swords could not satisfy his will, so he asked the best blacksmith of the time, Master Ju, to forge a large and heavy golden melon moon axe for him. Wherever he went, the dragons, tigers, fierce beasts, ghosts, gods, and monsters were all very afraid of him, especially when they saw his golden melon moon axe, they would only hide far away.
When the Tujia Nuo opera artists in Dejiang believe that there are evil spirits and ghosts harming people in a house, they perform the play of the Mountain-Opening Brave General. During the performance, the Nuo opera altar master wears the Mountain-Opening mask, dresses in golden armor, and wields a wooden golden melon moon axe. Amidst the sound of ox horns and drums and gongs, he chops and kills left and right, driving away evil spirits and ghosts, dispelling disasters and bringing blessings for the host.
The "Mountain-Opening Brave General" mask in Guizhou Nuo Hall Opera usually has the following symbolic meanings:
- **Exorcism and Demon Suppression**: The "Mountain-Opening Brave General" is seen as a deity with great power, capable of driving away evil spirits and suppressing demons. His fierce image, with features like horns on the head, protruding fangs, inverted eyebrows, and bulging eyeballs, displays a strong deterrent force, symbolizing the intimidation and expulsion of evil forces, protecting people from harm by evil spirits, and bringing safety.
- **Strength and Bravery**: The "Mountain-Opening Brave General" is described as tall and immensely strong, able to eat a whole ox in one meal, causing the earth to shake when he walks, and wielding a golden axe. These descriptions reflect his extraordinary strength and fearless bravery. The exaggerated design and lines on the mask further emphasize this sense of power, symbolizing people's desire and pursuit of great strength, hoping to overcome difficulties and challenges with his power.
- **Creation of the World**: Some view the "Mountain-Opening Brave General" as having roots in ancient mythology, evolving from the Torch Dragon → Pangu God → Mountain King ("Mountain-Opening Brave General"), representing a transition from nature worship to the god of world creation, and then to the god who slays monsters of the five directions and retrieves human souls. Therefore, the "Mountain-Opening Brave General" mask may also contain symbolic meanings of creating the world and establishing new order, representing expectations for new beginnings and new hope.
- **Auspiciousness and Protection**: In some regions and legends, the "Mountain-Opening Brave General" is given auspicious meanings, believed to bring good luck and fortune to people. He is one of the important righteous god roles in Nuo Hall Opera, symbolizing protection over people's lives, ensuring peace in the area, and satisfying people's psychological needs for safety, smoothness, and good fortune.
The understanding and interpretation of the symbolic meanings of the "Mountain-Opening Brave General" mask may vary in different regions and cultural backgrounds, but generally revolve around his powerful divine power, exorcism function, and the protection and expectation of a good life.
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