Institut für Kunstgeschichte Ostasiens Ghost on the Stage: Specters and the Noh Theater in Modern Japanese Prints

This talk discusses the representation of supernatural beings in images of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century theater in Japan with a focus on the first artist to render the nuances of the noh theater in prints, Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869–1927). Kōgyo, the adopted son of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892), one of the nineteenth century’s most prolific artists of supernatural imagery, carries the viewer into the ethereal world of the noh stage. At their core, most noh plays feature a spectral being who transports the audience back in time. The superlative use of print techniques in Kōgyo’s works captures these eerie sensations for new audiences. The talk traces the methods through which spirits have been depicted in Japanese art throughout the centuries and examines how they capture gender dynamics and local memory of the time.