About This Print

Print No. 13 of 120 prints issued as part of the series Nōgaku hyakuban (One Hundred Prints of Noh), depicting a scene from the play Sesshōseki, sometimes attributed to the playwright Sa-ami (15th c.).   In this scene "the spirit, wearing a nine-tailed fox headdress (kanmuri), stands against a dark, foreboding sky with a partially obscured moon."¹  This print was originally released by the publisher Matsuki Heikichi in the fifthinstallment 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 

The Play - Sesshōseki

Source: The Beauty of Silence: Nō and Nature Prints by Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869-1927), Robert Schaap & J. Thomas Rimer, Hotei Publishing, 2010, p. 118.
On his way from the northern provinces to the capital, the priest Gennō (waki) comes to a place called Nasuno, where there is a large rock.  He is surprised when a bird flying over the rock suddenly falls dead.  A local woman (shite) appears and warns him against approaching the rock, known locally as the "death rock" because it contains the evil spirit of a golden-haired fox which kills any living creature that approaches it.  She explains that long ago a spirit was chased from the palace for threatening the life of the emperor and it hid in the "death rock."  As Gennō prays for the spirit, the rock splits in two and the spirit emerges.  It confesses that it has killed many over the years, but promises to cease forthwith.

¹ The Beauty of Silence: Nō and Nature Prints by Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869-1927), Robert Schaap & J. Thomas Rimer, Hotei Publishing, 2010, p. 118.
² “The series Nogaku hyakuban (100 No plays) by Tsukioka Kogyo (1869-1927),” Claus-Peter Schulz, Andon 67, Society for Japanese Arts, p. 28.

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