Adachigahara, from the series One Hundred Nō Plays

Object Details

• Artist

  Tsukioka Kogyo 月岡耕漁 (1869-1927)

• Publisher

  Matsuki Heikichi 松木平吉

• Label

  Like in many noh plays, in Adachigahara, a monk and his attendants chance upon a place where they seek lodging for the night. They find the old house of an even older woman, who invites them to sleep there. The house is eerie and is dominated by an ancient spinning wheel. As night arrives, the woman announces she will leave to gather firewood. She warns the party not to look into the house’s other room. While she is gone, an attendant’s curiosity gets the better of him, and he peeks into the room, only to discover a mountain of bodies in decay. The woman, who is a demon, returns and attacks the group, only to be quelled by the pleading prayers of the monk.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Staging the Supernatural: Ghosts and the Theater in Japanese Prints (March 23 to October 6, 2024)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Robert O. Muller Collection

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1920s

• Name

  Tsukioka, Kogyo, Matsuki, Heikichi

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Theater, Art, Robert O. Muller collection, Noh, Japanese Art, Taisho era (1912 - 1926)

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints