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

Tsukioka Kogyo's Genjo, 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 image takes its subject from the noh play Genjo, which centres on the famous biwa lute of the same name and on the courtier Fujiwara no Moronaga, who travels toward China to deepen his musical learning and is recalled by the gods at the shore of Suma. Kogyo's noh-e composition arranges the principal performer with the formal stillness the play requires, dressed in patterned brocade and holding the position of the dance against the stage's painted pine. As Yoshitoshi's pupil, Kogyo had been trained in the strict figure drawing of the late [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) tradition before turning his career toward noh subjects, and his work in the Nogaku Zue project drew on direct access to performances and to the great schools then reconstructing the art under Meiji patronage. The carving here translates the silk patterns of the costume into precise blocks of pigment, and the printing keeps the matte ground that evokes the muted light of the noh stage rather than the saturated colour of theatre prints. The series ran across the 1890s and provided one of the most thorough visual records of the classical repertoire produced in the period. Catalogue documentation for this impression is available through the Art Institute of Chicago.