Noh Scene: Takasago

The Takasago story, an old folktale adapted into a popular Noh play, tells of two ancient pines, personified by an old couple. One lives in Takasago and the other in Sumiyoshi. A Shinto priest meets the pair and learns that each night, in a show of fidelity, the old man in Sumiyoshi visits his wife in Takasago, despite the great distance. Here, Kamisaka Sekka posed the old couple beneath a stylized pine tree, rendered using the puddle-ink (tarashikomi) technique, in which a second layer of ink is applied before the first has dried, creating a puddled look.