About This Print

One of 120 prints issued as part of the series Nōgaku hyakuban (One Hundred Prints of Noh), it depicts a scene from the play Hyakuman by the playwright Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443.)¹  This print was originally released by the publisher Matsuki Heikichi in the twenty-fifth installment of prints in this series.  This series' prints were offered in monthly installments consisting of three prints packaged in an envelope with additional descriptive information.² 

Please see this collection's print Nōga taikan, Kosode Soga by Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869-1927) for another scene from this play.

The Play - Hyakuman

Source: A Guide to No, P.G. O'Neill, Hinoki Shoten, 1929, p. 59.
Characters:
ko-kata - the child of Hyakuman; waki - a man from Yoshino; kyōgen - a local person; shite - Hyakuman

A man from Yoshino who has found a stray child takes him to pray at a temple in Saga and there sees a mad woman who prays and dances.  The boy recognizes her as his mother, and when she tells the man who she is and that her son disappeared after the death of her husband, he brings them together again.  She prays to give thanks for this and they joyfully takes her son home with her.

¹ Revision by Zeami (1363?-1443?) of an earlier play, Saga monogurui, by Kan’Ami (1333-1384). (Source: http://www.noh-kyogen.com/story/english/Hyakuman.pdf )
² “The series Nogaku hyakuban (100 No plays) by Tsukioka Kogyo (1869-1927),” Claus-Peter Schulz, Andon 67, Society for Japanese Arts, p. 28.

Print Details