Momijigari, from the series "One Hundred No Dramas (Nogaku hyakuban)"
- Date:
- 1898/1903
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; left sheet of oban diptych (right: 1943.833.42a)
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tsukioka Kogyo's Momijigari, from the series One Hundred No Dramas (Nogaku hyakuban), is a Meiji woodblock print dated 1893 and held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The print belongs to Kogyo's foundational survey of the noh repertoire, a project that established him as the leading visual chronicler of the classical stage during the late nineteenth century. Momijigari, the autumn-viewing play, dramatises the warrior Taira no Koremochi's encounter in the Togakushi mountains with a mysterious noblewoman who reveals herself to be a demon in disguise. Kogyo's noh-e composition captures a moment from the performance with the deliberate restraint of stage convention rather than the heightened naturalism of theatrical illustration. Figures appear in the patterned brocade robes and lacquered headgear specific to the role, posed against a setting suggested by the painted pine and the bare planks of the noh stage. Kogyo had trained under Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and absorbed his teacher's discipline of figure drawing before turning toward the noh as a lifelong subject, and his line work here shows the controlled precision that distinguishes his prints from the more decorative [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) of his contemporaries. The carving renders the textile patterns with patient detail, and the printing preserves the matte surface that suggests the muted palette of an actual performance. Issued during a period when noh was being reconstructed as a national cultural inheritance under Meiji patronage, the print served both connoisseurs of the theatre and a broader audience curious about the once-aristocratic art. The Art Institute of Chicago entry provides the catalogue documentation for this impression.
1898/1903
Color woodblock print
1898
Color woodblock print
1898
Color woodblock print
1898
Color woodblock print
Momijigari, from the series "One Hundred No Dramas (Nogaku hyakuban)" was created by Tsukioka Kōgyo (月岡耕漁) in 1898/1903.
Momijigari, from the series "One Hundred No Dramas (Nogaku hyakuban)" depicts theater.
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