Tsukioka Kōgyo

Undated photo of the artist

Tsukioka Kōgyo 月岡耕漁 (1869-1927)   

PROFILE


Kōgyo was born the year after the beginning of the Meiji restoration, which brought Japan into the modern Western world. While this was to be a period of great political and social upheaval in Japanese society, Kōgyo's work was largely focused on the traditional, the theater of Noh. In his lifetime he created over 550 prints, in three major print series, documenting Noh performances, with particular focus on the costumes and poses of the actors. These prints were widely distributed, many appearing in magazines, books and posters.1


At the age of fifteen he apprenticed with the great woodblock artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892), who had married his mother. His interest in Noh was likely sparked by Yoshitoshi, who had a "lifelong fascination with Noh."2 After Yoshitoshi's death, he went on to study with the painter and woodblock artist Ogata Gekkō (1859-1920), who likely was instrumental in the development of Kōgyo's watercolor-like, painterly style and his synthesis of Western and traditional Japanese artistic styles.


The Noh prints created by Kōgyo serve as "an artistically elegant and beautiful record of this theatrical genre's customs and performances"3 that "stand in their own right as works of art."4


1 The Theatre Prints of Tsukioka Kogyō: from the collection of Richard and Mae Smethurst, Yatsutaka Maruki and Laurence Kominz (a pamphlet from the 2007 exhibition of the same name.)2 The Frick Art & Historical Center website http://www.frickart.org/collection_exhibitions/pastexhibitions/80.php [no longer active 12-23-23]3 Ibid.4 Ibid., quote by Richard Smethurst, professor of Japanese history at the University of Pittsburgh.

BIOGRAPHY

While much has been written about Kōgyo's Noh prints, little has been written about his life. The English-language literature reports that he was born Hanyū Bennosuke, the son of innkeepers in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. When he was fifteen years old, his mother married Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892), a distinguished master of ukiyo-e printmaking. From his famous stepfather, the young Kōgyo received some of his earliest training in printmaking and painting. He received the name Toshihisa 年久 (the toshi 年 taken from his stepfather’s name), a name that was to appear on some of his war triptychs. Although their styles and subject matter were different, Kōgyo acquired both a knowledge of print design and an enthusiasm for Noh theater from his stepfather, who had a lifelong fascination with Noh.


Kōgyo was twenty-three when Yoshitoshi died. His mother then succeeded his stepfather as head of the Tsukioka family and its workshop until her death in 1911. Kōgyo at this time published his art under the name of his mother's family, Sakamaki 坂巻. He later became the student of another well-known print artist of the Meiji period (1868-1912), Ogata Gekkō (1859-1920).  Following Japanese tradition, Gekkō gave his student a new name, "Kōgyo." Consequently, from the mid-1890s on, he was known as Sakamaki Kōgyo and, after his 1911 assumption of leadership of the Tsukioka school, as Tsukioka Kōgyo. He also used the artist names () Kōhan 湖畔 (appearing on his small landscape prints). Gyo 漁, Rekizan 歴山 and Nenkyu. It is also reported that Kōgyo was a pupil of Matsumoto Fuko (1840-1923), a Japanese-style painter.1 


Kōgyo had a least one child, a daughter Fumio who became the artist Tsukioka Gyokusei (1908-1994), who took over the Tsukioka school after Kōgyo's death in 1927. She described her father's working habits as follows:


I remember beginning at the age of fifteen going to the Kanze Noh stage at Omigari in Tokyo with my father.  Before the play began, father would sketch the stage, beginning with the hashigakari.  People around him were amazed at the speed and facility with which he drew…

When father was absorbed with a painting, he worked with a fierce look on his face, and I knew not to enter his studio.2


1 A Dictionary of Japanese Artists: Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints, Lacquer, Laurance P. Roberts, Weatherhill, 1976, p. 189.

2 The Prints of Tsukioka Kōgyo, a brochure from the exhibition of the same name held at the Frick Art Museum February 3 - April 7, 2007


Noh Print Series

Sources: The Prints of Tsukioka Kogyo, a brochure from the exhibition of the same name held at the Frick Art Museum February 3 - April 7, 2007 and as footnoted.

Kōgyo created three major series of prints related to the Noh theater, all published by Matsuki Heikichi 松木平吉, proprietor of Daikokuya 大黒屋. 


The first series, begun in 1897 and completed in 1902, Nōgakuzue (Illustrations of Noh), consists of 261 prints all in the horizontal oban format. The second series, Nōgaku hyakuban (One Hundred Prints of the Noh), consists of 120 prints, almost all in the vertical oban format. The last series, Nōga taikan (A Great Collection of Noh Pictures), featuring 200 prints, was completed by his student Matsuno Sōfū (1899-1963) after Kogyo's death in 1927 and are all in the horizontal ōban format.

First Series (1897-1902)1 - Nōgakuzue (Illustrations of Noh; aka Pictures of Noh Plays or Pictures of Noh Performances)


The 261 prints comprising this first series show the primary actor (shite) often accompanied by one or two other performers (known as the waki, tsure, or aikyōgen), stage props, and sometimes the larger milieu including musicians or stage architecture. In the right margin Kōgyo gives the title of the play, a list of the roles, and a brief synopsis of the story. Occasionally there is an insert including an excerpt from the play's text. He also includes naturalistic details that evoke the setting of the plays, or "windows" of information that portray parts of the story that are relevant but do not actually take place on stage - events that are referred to but not seen. In the left margin is the publication date and publisher's name.2 Each print is signed Kōgyo 耕漁.


Of the 261 prints, 221 prints are of 220 noh plays, 27 prints are of kyōgen plays, and 13 are miscellaneous prints. The 27 kyōgen plays only give the title of the play in the right margin and have no additional descriptive information about the play.


1 While the year 1901 is also cited as the end date for this series, IHL Cat. #204 Rō Giō carries the date Meiji 33 or 1902.2 "Tsukioka Kōgyo and Nō Ukiyo-e," Don Bondi, Daruma Japanese Art & Antiques Magazine, Issue 52, Autumn 2006, p. 14.

Examples of artist seals used in this series: 

Second Series (1922-1926) - Nōgaku hyakuban 能楽百番 (One Hundred Prints of the Noh) 

This second series of prints consists of 120 prints derived from 100 plays. Fourteen diptych and three triptych prints were included in this series. These prints are quite different from those in the first series. The principal actor is nearly always the focus of the composition and all the prints are in vertical rather than horizontal ōban format. "The backgrounds often contain rich gradations of color, or dramatic, painterly suggestions of a setting. The monumentality of the figure creates a powerful, authoritative tone."1


The prints of the Nōgaku hyakuban series were sold by subscription. Three prints placed in an envelope were issued on a monthly basis starting with no. 1 in July 1922 and ending in September 1926 with print no. 120. Issuance of the prints was interrupted for approximately one year as a result of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake that devastated much of Tokyo. Only the envelopes indicate the time of publication, whereas the information about the publisher was also given by a seal on the prints.2

Table of Contents Envelope 1

(“The series Nōgaku hyakuban (100 No plays),” Claus-Peter Schulz, Andon 67, p. 28, fig. 3.) 

Issued as an Album? (The question is now answered!)

Many of the prints seen from this series, including a number in this collection, have a heavy backing and are partially trimmed, indicative of once being mounted in an album. It is unknown whether these albums were created by collectors or the publisher. My guess is that the publisher did create albums for this series and may have issued separate index sheets, such as the print IHL Cat. #246 in this collection, for these albums.


Claus-Peter Schultz, who has done extensive research on Tsukioka Kōgyo and his work, kindly provided the following information to me:


"With regard to your question on the albums: the albums have been distributed once the series has been completed (i.e. after September 1926). The order in the albums does not comply with the order of the 1st publishing (i.e. the distribution in 40 envelopes of three sheets each). Your contents sheet (cat.#246) belongs to volume 1."


1 The Prints of Tsukioka Kōgyo, a brochure from the exhibition of the same name held at the Frick Art Museum February 3 - April 7, 2007.2 “The series Nōgaku hyakuban (100 No plays) by Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869-1927),” Claus-Peter Schulz, Andon 67, Society for Japanese Arts, p. 28.

Examples of seals used in this series: