To-bo-saku, from the series "Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue)"

To-bo-saku (Tobosaku) is a Meiji woodblock print by Tsukioka Kogyo, published in 1893 in Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue). The play centers on the Chinese sage Tobosaku, said to have eaten the peaches of immortality and lived for thousands of years; in noh, he appears as a venerable old man before the imperial court, offering wisdom and the auspicious peach. Kogyo, who trained with Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and Ogata Gekko, brings the disciplined visual language of noh-e to this auspicious subject. The composition follows the conventions of the bare cedar noh stage: a low ground line, sparse setting and emphatic focus on the costumed figure. The keyblock outline preserves the dignity of Tobosaku's posture and the silhouette of his long robe, while overprinted brocade patterns and selective [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations build the formal textiles. A restrained palette - earthy ochres, pale gold and gentle greens - evokes longevity and serenity without overwhelming the figure. Kogyo's documentary authority came from his unusual access to performances at the [Hosho](/glossary/hosho) and Kanze schools during the Meiji noh revival. Pictures of No Performances, issued by Matsuki Heikichi, was his first dedicated noh series and the prelude to One Hundred No Dramas. Together these projects form the most ambitious printed record of late nineteenth-century noh and helped re-anchor the repertoire in the cultural life of modern Tokyo. The Art Institute of Chicago holds this impression among its substantial Kogyo holdings, where it serves as an authoritative example of late nineteenth-century Meiji woodblock printing devoted to noh. Source: Art Institute of Chicago (https://www.artic.edu/artworks/155303).