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

Art Historical Context

Tsukioka Kôgyo’s “Tatsuta,” created in 1898, belongs to his celebrated series “Pictures of Noh Performances” (Nogaku Zue). As a leading printmaker of the Meiji era, Kôgyo devoted much of his career to documenting the graceful, highly stylized world of Noh theater, a classical Japanese dramatic form that blends poetry, music, dance, and masked performance. The print captures a moment from the play “Tatsuta,” evoking the quiet intensity and refined gestures that define this ancient art. Produced as a color woodblock print, the work reflects the enduring vitality of traditional Japanese printmak...

About the Artist

Tsukioka Kôgyo · 1869–1927

Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869–1927), born Hanyū Bennosuke in Tokyo's bustling Nihonbashi district as the second son of an innkeeper family, navigated a path from humble origins to mastery in Japanese printmaking. After his father's early death, he was raised by his mother's Sakamaki family and apprenticed in pottery painting under his uncle, a ceramics exporter in Yokohama. He briefly attended the Tokyo Sc...