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Nōga taikan, Daibutsu Kuyō

 

 Japanese Color Woodblock Print

Daibutsu Kuyō 大 佛 供養

(The Daibutsu Dedication Ceremony)

from the series Nōga taikan

by Tsukioka Kōgyo, 1926


IHL Cat. #790

About This Print

Number 127* of 200 prints issued as part of the series Nōga taikan (Encyclopedia of Noh Plays) depicting a scene from the play Daibutsu Kuyō by an unknown playwright.  This print still maintains its semi-transparent cover sheet providing information on the play and its characters.

cover sheet
click on image to see detail

* number appears in the lower right hand of the cover sheet.

The Play - Daibutsu Kuyō

Source: A Guide to No, P.G. O'Neill, Hinoki Shoten, 1929, p. 17.
Characters
Act 1: tsure -the mother of Kagekiyo; shite - Kakgekiyo; kyōgen - a servant at the Tōdai-ji
Act 2: ko-kata - Minamoto no Yoritomo; waki - an official; nochi-tsure - three of Yoritomo's men; nochi-shite - Kagekiyo

The Heike warrior Kagekiyo has come to Kyōto to pray at the Kiyomizu-dera when he hears that the Minamoto chief Yoritomo is about to hold the dedication ceremony for the giant statue of Buddha in Nara.  Going there in secret, he first calls on his mother who lives nearby.  The, disguised in priestly robes, he goes to the temple itself where Yoritomo has already arrived with his men.  When he tries to move close to Yoritomo to attack him, by pretending to be cleaning the place in preparation for the ceremony, an official notices that he is armed and gives the alarm as Kagekiyo disappears into the crowd.  Warriors rush on him, but he drives them back and makes good his escape.

Print Details

 IHL Catalog #790
 Title Daibutsu Kuyō 大 佛 供養 (The Daibutsu Dedication Ceremony)
 Series Nōga taikan 能画大鑑 (Encyclopedia of Noh Plays or A Great Mirror of Noh Pictures or A Great Collection of Noh Pictures)
 Artist 
 Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869-1927)
 Signature 
 Kōgyo
 Seal
Kōgyo seal, seal no. 13, p. 170 in The Beauty of Silence: Nō and Nature Prints by Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869-1927), Robert Schaap & J. Thomas Rimer, Hotei Publishing, 2010.
 Date August 28, 1926
 Edition unknown
 Publisher Seibi Shoten (or Seibi Shoin), Tokyo
 Carver Uchida Eikichi
 Printer Yoshida Takesaburō
 Impression excellent
 Colors excellent
 Condition excellent - binding holes right side;  not backed
 Genre ukiyo-e
 Miscellaneous print #127
 Format oban yoko-e
 H x W Paper 10 x 14 5/8 in. (25.4 x 37.1 cm)
 Collections This Print 
 Reference Literature