Ikari-Kazuki, from the series "One Hundred No Dramas (Nogaku hyakuban)"

Ikari-Kazuki, alternatively read as Ikari Kazuki, depicts the death of the Taira commander Tomomori at the naval Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185 — the final defeat of the Heike clan, drawn from the Tale of the Heike. In the play's climactic moment, Tomomori, refusing to be captured, takes up a great anchor (ikari) and plunges with it into the sea. Tsukioka Kōgyo's print in the Nōgaku Hyaku-ban (One Hundred Noh Dramas) series shows the warrior-ghost shite at the moment of the anchor lift, the costume rendered with the care of a textile record. Published by Matsuki Heikichi between 1922 and 1926, with earlier states dated 1898/1903 in the Art Institute of Chicago catalogue, the print belongs to the great Tsukioka Kōgyo project of documenting the entire Noh repertoire. The anchor itself, often a stage property of striking size, anchors the composition as it does the play's emotional climax.