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

Ukon is a Meiji woodblock print of 1893 by Tsukioka Kogyo from his series Pictures of No Performances (Nogaku Zue). The Ukon play takes its setting from the Ukon-no-baba racing ground on the western side of the Heian capital, where in early summer the spirit of cherry blossoms appears to a traveling priest and dances among the few remaining trees, recalling the season's lost glories. Kogyo, the foremost interpreter of noh-e in the Meiji woodblock era, presents the masked spirit in the elegant robes and headgear appropriate to a deity of flowers, the stance and gesture taken directly from contemporary performance. The Art Institute of Chicago, source of this impression, holds Nogaku Zue in depth and treats Ukon as a representative sheet within the series. The print follows Kogyo's consistent method: the figure stands on the open ground of the stage, brocade and pattern are recorded with patient registration, and the seasonal mood is implied through costume and bearing rather than through literal landscape. The result is a quiet, dignified image that suits the play's contemplative temper. For collectors of noh-e attentive to the seasonal poetry of the noh repertoire, Ukon pairs naturally with Kogyo's other prints of nature deities and cherry-blossom plays, demonstrating the consistency of his method across thematically related subjects.