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Illustration of Townspeople Watching Noh Play “Okina” in Edo Castle from the series Flowers of Edo in the Past

 

Japanese Color Woodblock Print

Illustration of Townspeople Watching Noh Play

“Okina” in Edo Castle

from the series Flowers of Edo in the Past

by Yōshū Chikanobu, 1889

Illustration of The Imperial Assembly of the House of Peers

IHL Cat. #193

About This Print

Noblemen are watching the noh play Okina in a decorous manner while commoners jockey for position in a fenced area to the left of the stage.  Commoners had little chance to see noh and "[t]he purpose of these public noh performances (machiiri nō) was to raise funds for the construction or repair of temples and shrines."1

1 Heroes of the Kabuki Stage: An Introduction to the World of Kabuki with Retellings of Famous Plays, illustrated by Woodblock Prints, Arendie Herwig and Henk J. Herwig, Hotei Publishing, 2004, p. 12.

One of Thirteen Prints from The Lavenberg Collection

loaned to the Portland Art Museum for the




Print Details

 IHL Catalog
 #193
 Title or Description Illustration of Townspeople Watching Noh Play “Okina” in Edo Castle
 Kyū bakufu gotairei no setsu: chōnin onō
 温故東之花 第三編　旧幕府御大礼之節町人御能拝見之図
 Series Flowers of Edo in the Past [also translated as Revitalization of the Customs of Edo and Looking into the Past: The Pride of the East; The Flower of the East, Learning from History; Revitalization of the Customs of Edo; Looking into the Past: The Pride of the East; Looking into the Past: Flowers of the Eastern Capital; and Historical Events of Tokugawa Shogunate]
 Onko azuma no hana 温故東の花 
 Artist Yōshū Chikanobu (1838-1912)
 Signature
Yōshū Chikanobu hitsu 楊洲周延 筆
 Seal red toshidama seal (see above)
 Publication Date 1889 Meiji 22 (as shown below in Publisher)
 Publisher
Egawa Hachizaemon 江川八左衛門 (Egawa Hachi'emon) [Marks: pub. ref. 050; seal not shown]

seal reading: 江川八左エ門
 Impression excellent
 Colors excellent
 Condition fair – red ink offsetting, backed, trimmed (but not into image), paper imperfection in middle of center panel, worm damage, right edge center of middle panel 
 Genre ukiyo-e
 Miscellaneous  
 Format vertical oban triptych
 H x W Paper 
 14 1/4 x 9 1/4 in. (36.2 x 23.5 cm) each sheet
 Literature 
 Heroes of the Kabuki Stage: An Introduction to the World of Kabuki with Retellings of Famous Plays, illustrated by Woodblock Prints, Arendie Herwig and Henk J. Herwig, Hotei Publishing, 2004, p. 12, pl. 1.
 Collections This Print
 Weatherspoon Art Museum, UNC, Greensboro 1987.3972; The Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum of Waseda University 118-0079, 80, 81; Tokyo Metropolitan Library 5622-C001; National Museum of Japanese History H-22-1-26-39; Ritsumeikan University ARC UP2269
last revision:
12/15/2020
4/24/2020