Tsurikitsune, from the series "Fifty Kyogen Plays (Kyogen gojuban)"

Tsurikitsune, dated 1922 and part of 'Fifty Kyogen Plays (Kyogen gojuban),' records one of the most demanding plays in the kyogen repertory, in which an old fox disguises itself as a priest to dissuade a hunter from setting his trap. The play is regarded as the kyogen equivalent of the noh Dojoji and is performed only by experienced actors after long preparation. Tsukioka Kogyo (1869-1927) selected the play for his series with full awareness of its prestige, and the design isolates the fox-priest figure against an open ground in keeping with the noh-e conventions he had spent his career developing. The mask, robe, and slightly stooped posture all signal the character's true identity to a viewer who knows the play, while remaining ambiguous enough to convey the disguise itself. Tsukioka Kogyo had emerged in the Meiji woodblock tradition under Ogata Gekko and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and then specialized in documenting nogaku across both noh and kyogen. The 1922 Kyogen gojuban prints are valued by collectors for their warmer palette and looser line compared with the earlier Nogaku hyakuban sheets, and for the way they round out Kogyo's documentation of the full classical theater. Tsurikitsune is among the most evocative designs in the series.