Edutainment > Noh Plays and Japanese Prints

One Hundred Noh Plays

Noh Plays
Mii-dera Temple
copyright protected

Art friends will find hardly any Japanese woodblock prints from the Edo period with depictions of Noh plays. But you find an abundance of woodblock prints created towards the end of the Meiji period (1868-1912). This article explains why and presents prints made by Tsukioka Kogyo from the series "100 Noh Play" (Nogaku Hyakuban).

The images on this page are link-sensitive and take you to other articles or web sites in which you might be interested.

Noh Plays and Ukiyo-e

Ukiyo-e, the classical Japanese woodblock prints were a popular mass media made for the public. Ukiyo-e was published to pleaase a large audience and aimed at being sold in large editions.

During the Edo period (1603-1868) the Noh theater was a theatrical art form reserved for a small upper class elite. Noh plays were not even accessible for a broad public. No wonder that ukiyo-e artists hardly created any woodblock prints with Noh subjects during the Edo period.

After the end of the Edo period, noh plays were regarded with a certain skepticism. For most Japanese the Noh theater represented the old order of the Tokugawa shogunate that had ruled Japan in total isolation for more than 250 years.

Noh Plays by Kogyo Tsukioka

One Hundred Noh Plays

Kogyo Tsukioka
One Hundred Noh Plays - Okina
copyright protected

It was only towards the end of the ninetheenth century that Noh plays gained in recognition among the middle class towns people.

During this period of a renaissance of Noh, the Japanese woodblock printmakers began to create prints showing scenes from Noh plays. Best known is Kogyo Tsukioka, a student of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Kogyo Tsukioka designed two large series:

• Nogaku Hyakuban - Hundred Noh Plays (1898-1903)
• Nogaku Zue - Pictures of Noh Plays (1897-1902)

Nogaku Hyakuban - Hundred Noh Plays

We display 10 woodblock prints from the series "Hundred Noh Plays" that were offered in artelino's online art auction # 776 running from June 14 until June 17, 2009.

One Hundred Noh Plays

Kabuki Theater
Yuya
copyright protected

One Hundred Noh Plays

Kabuki Introduction
Yourou
copyright protected

One Hundred Noh Plays

Meiji Enlightenment
Tatsuta
copyright protected

One Hundred Noh Plays

Meiji Nationalism
Takeyuki
copyright protected

One Hundred Noh Plays

Meiji Prints
Soshiaraikomachi
copyright protected

One Hundred Noh Plays

Meiji Prints as Art?
Shojo
copyright protected

One Hundred Noh Plays

artelino Art Auctions
Sakuragawa
copyright protected

One Hundred Noh Plays

Japanese Prints - Home
Rashomon
copyright protected

Dieter Wanczura
(June 2009)

Literature source for this article about Noh Plays and Japanese Prints

Friedrich B. Schwan, "Handbuch Japanischer Holzschnitt", 2003, IUDICIUM Verlag, Postfach 701067, D-81310 München, ISBN 3-89129-749-1.

	Web www.artelino.com

The images on this web site are the property of the artist(s) and or the artelino GmbH and/or a third company/institution.  Reproduction, public display and any commercial use of these images, in whole or in part, require the expressed written consent of the artist(s) and/or the artelino GmbH. .