Lady Aoi, 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

  Aoi no ue, or Lady Aoi, is a play with a sinister tone based on The Tale of Genji. Lady Aoi was famously haunted by the specter of Lady Rokujō, Genji’s jealous lover. The play is unusual in that, instead of recounting a story of times past, it transports the audience directly into the eleventh century, the time when the plot of The Tale of Genji takes place. It is revealed that Lady Aoi is possessed by the spirit of Lady Rokujō, who torments her. Rokujō’s disguised specter appears to recount her sorrow and talks herself into a frenzied rage. Before our eyes, Rokujō turns into a frightening, yellow-eyed demon—the moment captured by Kōgyo in this print.

• Provenance

  To 2003

  Robert O. Muller

  From 2003

  National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution by gift from Robert O. Muller [1]

  Notes:

  [1] Accessioned on December 6, 2003. See Acquisition Consideration Form, in object file. From 2003-2023, the object was part of the National Museum of Asian Art’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection and on March 21, 2023, the work was internally transferred to the National Museum of Asian Art Collection.

• 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)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Robert O. Muller (1911-2003)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Robert O. Muller Collection

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1920s

• Name

  Muller, Robert O.

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints