Kurama muko (Kyogen), from the series "Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue)"
- Date:
- 1898
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Kurama muko (Kyogen) is a Meiji woodblock print by Tsukioka Kogyo from his 1893 series Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue), held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a kyogen rather than a noh proper, this sheet documents the comic counterpart that is traditionally performed between noh plays on the same stage, and Kogyo adjusts his visual register accordingly. The figures are presented in simpler stage costumes than the elaborate robes of noh, gestures are more openly expressive, and the comic tone of the play is allowed to register without breaking the series' overall consistency. Pupil of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and Ogata Gekko, Kogyo had the draftsmanship to handle both ends of the classical Japanese stage, and Kurama muko shows how he kept his noh-e project comprehensive by including kyogen subjects rather than treating only the noh repertoire. The Nogaku Zue series is widely regarded as the foundational Meiji project of noh-e, and its inclusion of kyogen sheets is part of what makes it valuable as a documentary record of the classical Japanese stage as a whole. The Art Institute of Chicago documents the impression at https://www.artic.edu/artworks/155330, placing it within a major museum holding of Kogyo's prints. For collectors, Kurama muko (Kyogen) is a particularly engaging example of how Tsukioka Kogyo could translate stage humor into a Meiji woodblock print without compromising the technical refinement that defines his work in the genre.
1898/1903
Color woodblock print; left sheet of oban diptych (right: 1943.833.42a)
1898/1903
Color woodblock print
1898
Color woodblock print
1898
Color woodblock print
Kurama muko (Kyogen), from the series "Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue)" was created by Tsukioka Kōgyo (月岡耕漁) in 1898.
Kurama muko (Kyogen), from the series "Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue)" depicts theater.
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