A girl and 7 women watch a performance of noh / no theater in which dancers dressed as 2 Chinese lions / Kara shishi frolic amidst peony flowers. Lion dances / shishi mai have a long history in China and Japan, often associated with protecting a...
Beneath drying autumn grasses, the aged Komachi sits gazing at the moon. Ono no Komachi was a beautiful, intelligent woman and one of the most accomplished early court poets. As a young woman she was pursued by many suitors, most of whom she...
men (male humans); women; trees; snow (precipitation); kimonos; sandals; hats; built works; stables (animal housing)
In the dead of winter, a Buddhist priest showed up unexpectedly at the cottage of Sano Genzaemon Tsuneyo in Yashu (Shimotsuke Province, modern Tochigi Prefecture). The impoverished warrior offered what hospitality he could, although recently he had...
The Soga Brothers were historical figures whose vow of revenge has resonated in kabuki and noh theaters for centuries. Juro Sukenari (1172-1193) and Goro Tokimune (1174-1193) were the children of Kawazu Sukeyasu, an ally of the Taira clan, who was...
men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); kimonos; trees; flowers (plants)
According to a noh play, a woman from Mino Province had become a courtesan in the capital. Honoring a promise to a customer, she sent a treasured fan to Yoshida no Shosho, but because he did not respond, she went mad, wandering the streets and...
women; men (male humans); kimonos; military uniforms; drums (membranophones); flutes (aerophones); biwa; swords; fans (costume accessories)
The emperor, empress and five court ladies at right observe a traditional shirabyoshi dancer. While the imperial couple sit in chairs at a table, their attendants kneel on the carpeted verandah. Also on the porch is an enormous flower arrangement...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; trees; flowers (plants); mountains; gardens; Single Built Works; fusuma
Kato Shigeuji, the military governor / daimyo of Chikuzen Province in northern Kyushu, became disillusioned with the sensual world and sought spiritual refuge on Mt. Koya, a monastic center on the main island of Honshu. Although he abandoned his...
A woman, slightly bent over, grasps her hair at the river's edge. Kiyohime was the daughter of an innkeeper at the village of Masago. Anchin was a devout monk at Dojo Temple on the banks of the Hidaka river. Each year Anchin stayed at Kiyohime's...
A man in ragged robes sits on the ground before a yellow-flowering bush watching sparrows flying above him. Sanekata was a poet and high-ranking nobleman of the Fujiwara clan. He died in exile in 994. Toward the end of his political career,...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); armor (protective wear); Buddhas
An armored samurai is wrestling a red demon and multitude of skeletons under the gaze of a grinning yellow Buddha. Toki Motosada has seized the demon by the wrist and is throwing it down. Moths flutter around them under a full moon.
Where...
A man in ragged robes sits on the ground before a yellow-flowering bush watching sparrows flying above him. Sanekata was a poet and high-ranking nobleman of the Fujiwara clan. He died in exile in 994. Toward the end of his political career,...
dance; kimonos; women; boys; men (male humans); screens (furniture)
Lion dance, performed as part of the noh play Mochizuki. Lady Shiragiku, wife of Lord Yasuda, and her son Hanawakamaru watch intently, while Inspector Ozawa dozes. This dance was performed in 1879 for ex- U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant when he...
legends (folk tales); robes (main garments); children (people by age group); boys; sandals
Back to back print. A man in a priest's robes and headdress cups the chin of a young boy standing beside him; a rosary dangles from his right wrist. The boy, dressed in traveling clothes, grasps the priest's wrist and lays his face in the man's...
banners; parasols; flowers (plants); baskets; women; men (male humans); kimonos; processions; floats (vehicles); Built complexes and districts
This set of small deluxe prints revisited many of the subjects and themes Chikanobu had depicted in earlier and larger formats. But where the "Chiyoda Inner Palace" or Chiyoda Ooku series of triptychs portrayed the shogun's private quarters where...
women; men (male humans); princes; shores (landforms); trees; kimonos; boats
Prince Ariwara no Yukihira (818-893), according to the noh play "Matsukaze," was sent into exile at Suma, where he fell in love with two daughters of a salt-maker. After three years of banishment, Yukihira returned to Kyoto, leaving Murasame and...
