About This Print

Number 30 of 200 prints issued as part of the series Nōga taikan (Encyclopedia of Noh Plays), it depicts a scene from the play Ikkaku Sennin by the playwright Komparu Zembō Motoyasu (1453-1532) in which the hermit stand in front of his cave.

The Play - Ikkaku Sennin

Source: A Guide to No, P.G. O'Neill, Hinoki Shoten, 1929, p. 61.
This play is based on an old Indian legend about a horned hermit, born of a deer, who uses his magical powers to keep the dragon kings, bringers of the rain, shut up in a cave.  The Court official tells how the country has been stricken by drought as a result and how the king has devised a scheme to bring relief.  The official goes with a beautiful lady of the Court and, posing as travellers who have lost their way, they seek out the hermit.  Beguiled by the beauty of the lady, the hermit is plied with wine and even joins in when she dances for him.  Taking advantage of all this, the dragon gods escape and bring rain to save the crops.

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#337
Title	Ikkaku Sennin 角仙人 (The Horned Mask or The Horned Hermit)
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 spots of foxing; full-size; not backed
Genre	ukiyo-e
Miscellaneous
Format	oban yoko-e
H x W Paper	10 x 14 1/2 in. (25.4 x 36.8 cm)
Collections This Print
Reference Literature	The Beauty of Silence: Nō and Nature Prints by Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869-1927), Robert Schaap & J. Thomas Rimer, Hotei Publishing, 2010, p. 137, pl. 88.