Higaki, from the series "One Hundred No Dramas (Nogaku hyakuban)"

Higaki is a Meiji woodblock print by Tsukioka Kogyo from his series One Hundred No Dramas (Nogaku hyakuban), dated 1893 in the records of the Art Institute of Chicago. The play Higaki centers on the spirit of an aged poet returning to confront her past, and its emotional weight lies in the contrast between memory and the figure's present condition. Kogyo's image registers that mood through the formal vocabulary of noh-e: the central figure stands in stage costume against a restrained ground, the robe articulated with finely controlled line and color, while the mask and stance carry the play's elegiac tone. Pupil of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and Ogata Gekko, Kogyo developed a noh-e style that balanced [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) draftsmanship with the meditative restraint required by classical theater, and Higaki shows that balance clearly. The Nogaku hyakuban series was conceived as a comprehensive visual inventory of the noh repertoire, complementing his Nogaku Zue, and together the two projects effectively define Meiji noh-e for collectors and scholars. Each sheet pairs scholarly attention to mask, robe, and gesture with the technical refinement of the best Tokyo print workshops of the period. The Art Institute of Chicago documents the impression at https://www.artic.edu/artworks/154685, placing it within a major museum holding of Kogyo's noh prints. For collectors, Higaki offers a strong example of how Tsukioka Kogyo translated the contemplative plays of the noh stage into refined Meiji woodblock images.