Sarugaku-Kyögen Play (descriptive title)

A print depicting a Sarugaku-Kyogen play — the comic theater tradition associated with Noh performance, in which short comic interludes (kyogen) provided relief from the intense austerity of Noh drama. Sarugaku was the original term for what developed into Noh theater, and Chikanobu's depiction of this classical performing arts subject connects his oeuvre to the tradition of theater imagery that ran throughout the history of Japanese printmaking. The descriptive title indicates scholarly reconstruction of an original title that may have been more specific.