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Unidentified Meiji period artist		The Noh play: Takasago - the characters Okina and Ouna -
		Preparatory brush drawings (shita-e) for a print diptych, in sumi (black ink) with red underdrawing on thin paper. Date:                  second half of the 19th century Size of sheet:     oban tate-e (40 x 30.5 cms / c. 15 3/4" x 12"; each sheet) Condition:  Fine. - As here, it was common practice for shita-e to be executed on sheets made from smaller pieces of paper which were glued together. - ref. no.: # 712792 Price:     € 800.00

The shita-e (preparatory drawing) for a print diptych depicts the main characters Okina and Ouna ('Jo' and 'Uba') of the Noh play, Takasago. One popular version of the story goes like this: at Takasago there is a very old pine tree, the trunk of which is bifurcated; in it dwells the spirit of the Maiden of Takasago, who was seen once by the son of Izanagi, who fell in love and wedded her. - Both lived to a very great age, dying at the same hour on the same day, and since then their spirits abide in the tree, but on moonlight nights they return to human shape to revisit the scene of their earthly felicity. They are mostly shown, as here, as an old couple, JO with a rake, UBA with a besom, gathering pine needles.

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