Chisho, from the series "Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue)"

Tsukioka Kogyo's Chisho, from the series Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue), is a Meiji woodblock print dated 1893 and held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The print depicts a scene from a play in the noh repertoire and reflects the documentary ambition of the Nogaku Zue project, which Kogyo pursued across the 1890s as a comprehensive visual record of the classical stage. The composition observes the conventions of the noh stage, with the figure shown in patterned brocade and lacquered headgear, posed against the bare planks and painted pine that frame every performance. Kogyo had trained under Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, the great master of the late [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) tradition, and the strict figure drawing that informed Yoshitoshi's late prints carries through into the careful contour and proportion of his pupil's noh-e. The carving here renders the textile patterns with patient detail, and the printing maintains the muted palette that distinguishes performance documentation from the more saturated theatre prints aimed at the popular market. The Nogaku Zue series drew on Kogyo's direct observation of noh performances and on the cooperation of the great schools then reconstructing the art under Meiji patronage, after the discipline had nearly collapsed during the early years of the era. The Art Institute of Chicago's catalogue documents this impression under the title and series given here, with the date and the artist's attribution recorded in the museum's online resources.