The illusion of Princess Aoi no Ue

The title refers to the Noh play Aoi no Ue, in which the spirit of Lady Rokujo, consumed by jealousy, possesses and afflicts Princess Aoi, the wife of Prince Genji. The play and its source in The Tale of Genji have been subjects in Japanese visual art for centuries. A mokuhanga treatment would likely depict either the moment of possession—often staged in Noh with a folded kimono representing the unseen Aoi on the ground—or the figure of Rokujo's spirit appearing as a hannya-masked apparition. Prints on Noh subjects often draw on the stylized stagecraft of the genre, with mica grounds, reduced color palettes, and posed figures echoing the distinctive postures of Noh performance. Twentieth-century mokuhanga producers including Kogyo Tsukioka created extensive series of Noh prints, and a sheet on this subject by Taki Shusui likely sits within that tradition, though the precise series and publisher cannot be confirmed without further documentation.