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Nōga taikan, Ugetsu

 

 Japanese Color Woodblock Print

Ugetsu 雨月

(Rain and Moon)

from the series Nōga taikan

by Tsukioka Kōgyo, 1926


IHL Cat. #788

About This Print

Number 141* of 200 prints issued as part of the series Nōga taikan (Encyclopedia of Noh Plays) depicting a scene from the play Ugetsu by the playwright Komparu Zenchiku (1405-c. 1470).  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.

For another treatment of this play by the artist see the print Nōgakuzue, Ugetsu.

The Play - Ugetsu

Source: A Guide to No, P.G. O'Neill, Hinoki Shoten, 1929, p. 202-203.
Characters
Act 1: waki -the priest Saigyō; shite - an old man; tsure - an old woman; kyōgen - the god of a subsidiary shrine
Act 2: nochi-shite - an old shrine keeper possessed by the god Sumiyoshi Myōjin

Arriving at Sumiyoshi on apilgrimage to the shrine there, the priest Saigyō seeks shelter in the house of an old couple.  They gladly give him lodging when he succeeds in providing a beginning to the second part of a poem which the old man composed about a dispute between him and his wife: she, liking to watch the moon, wants the eaves of the house left unthatched but he enjoys hearing the sound of the rain on the thatching there.  In the second part of the play, Sumiyoshi Miyōjin, the patron god of poetry, takes possession of an old keeper of the shrine to speak of poetry and dance.

Print Details

 IHL Catalog #788
 Title Ugetsu 雨月 (Rain and Moon)
 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; 2 pin holes at right side; binding holes right side;  not backed
 Genre ukiyo-e
 Miscellaneous print #141
 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