About This Print

Number 29 of 200 prints issued as part of the series Nōga taikan (Encyclopedia of Noh Plays) depicting a scene from the play Rō-taiko by an unknown playwright.

The Play - Rō-taiko

Source: A Guide to No, P.G. O'Neill, Hinoki Shoten, 1929, p. 142-143.

A man of Matsura has thrown Seiji, one of his retainers, into prison for killing someone in an argument, but now learns from a servant that the prisoner has escaped.  He therefore imprisons Seiji's wife instead, but she refuses to disclose the whereabouts of the escaped man.  Eventually her mind becomes unbalanced from love of the husband she can no longer see, and she strikes the drum hanging on the prison wall and dances in her madness.  Seeing this, the man takes pity on her, and releases her with a pardon for her husband.  Her mind clears as her troubles disappear and she goes off happily to rejoin her husband.

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#125
Title	Ro-taiko 籠太鼓 (The Prison Drum)
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
Date	originally July 5, 1926
Edition	unknown
Publisher	Seibi Shoten (or Seibi Shoin), Tokyo
Carver	Uchida Eikichi
Printer	Yoshida Takesaburō
Impression	excellent
Colors	excellent
Condition	good - several small black marks; foxing along left margin verso not visible from front; vertical margins slightly trimmed; not backed
Genre	ukiyo-e
Miscellaneous
Format	oban yoko-e
H x W Paper	10 x 14 3/8 in. (25.4 x 36.5 cm)
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