Shigeyama, Kyogen Actor in 'San-ba-so', Kyoto

The Scottish artist Elizabeth Keith first travelled to Japan in 1915, where she spent two years learning to carve and print woodblocks. This print shows an actor dressed for a comic interlude within a Nō play, the classical dance-drama of Japan. The composition reflects the long tradition of actor prints from the Edo period: the performer holds a pose in costume, as if captured mid-performance.