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

Chitose Sanbaso is a Meiji woodblock print by Tsukioka Kogyo, published in 1893 in Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue). Chitose and Sanbaso are figures within Okina, the auspicious ritual that opens a formal noh program and predates ordinary plays in the repertoire. Sanbaso performs vigorous, blessing dances - rice-planting and bell-shaking sequences - while Chitose, dressed in pale robes, embodies youthful vigor. Kogyo, a pupil of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and Ogata Gekko, treats this sacred subject with the restraint that defines noh-e. The composition retains the conventions of the bare cedar stage: a low ground line, sparse setting and concentrated focus on the costumed figure. The keyblock outline preserves the dancer's posture and the silhouette of the formal robes, while overprinted brocade patterns and selective bokashi gradations build the textiles prized by Meiji-era patrons. A celebratory palette of warm reds, gold, and pale greens reflects the auspicious character of Okina without breaking the noh-e emphasis on iconic stillness. Kogyo drew on direct observation of Meiji performances at the Hosho and Kanze schools, which lent his prints documentary authority that earlier ukiyo-e treatments of theater lacked. Pictures of No Performances, issued by Matsuki Heikichi, was Kogyo's first dedicated noh series and the prelude to One Hundred No Dramas. The Art Institute of Chicago holds this impression among its substantial Kogyo holdings, where it serves as an authoritative example of noh-e and late nineteenth-century Meiji woodblock printing. Source: Art Institute of Chicago (https://www.artic.edu/artworks/155285).