Ugai, from the series "Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue)"

Ugai is a Meiji woodblock print from 1893 by Tsukioka Kogyo, drawn from his series Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue). The play takes its name from the practice of ugai, cormorant fishing carried out by torchlight, and its shite is the ghost of a cormorant fisherman who in life broke a religious prohibition by fishing in restricted waters. In death he is condemned to repeat his act before a traveling priest, who promises to pray for his release. Kogyo, the leading specialist in noh-e during the Meiji woodblock era, shows the fisherman in his characteristic stage costume, holding the torch and cormorant cord, the masked face drawn in the way an actor would tilt it during the central agonized passage of the play. The Art Institute of Chicago, where this impression is held, identifies Nogaku Zue as one of the foundational Meiji print series devoted to noh and includes Ugai among its representative sheets from the project. The play's blend of fire imagery, water, and religious anxiety gives Kogyo unusual material to work with; he handles it without resorting to spectacle, letting costume detail and stance carry the dramatic weight. For collectors of noh-e, Ugai is one of the more visually striking sheets in the series and a clear example of Kogyo's ability to translate ghostly subject matter into a measured, dignified Meiji woodblock image.