noun
mask play; masque
A theatrical performance where actors wear masks; often refers to traditional Japanese forms like 能 (Noh) or Western masques.
能は日本の代表的な仮面劇です。
Noh is a representative Japanese mask play.
この仮面劇は17世紀のフランスで流行した。
This masque was popular in 17th-century France.
マスク usually means a protective or decorative mask worn on the face, not a theatrical genre.
Compound of 仮面 (kamen, 'mask') and 劇 (geki, 'drama, play'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word follows standard Sino-Japanese compounding patterns.