Kyōgen Costume: Jacket (Suō) with Design of Lotuses
This jacket (suō), with its field of graphically rendered lotuses, would be worn with matching long trousers in kyōgen plays for the role of a samurai lord.
Kyōgen is a comic form of Japanese theater, performed along with the more serious noh drama. Historically, kyōgen players had two functions. First, between acts of noh, they explicated in the vernacular the play’s poetic language. Second, during a conventional full-day program of noh theater, they performed in plays that were interspersed for comic relief. Costumes for kyōgen are noted for their bold resist-dyed patterns on linenlike asa, as opposed to noh costumes’ more elegant woven or embroidered silk.
Kyōgen is a comic form of Japanese theater, performed along with the more serious noh drama. Historically, kyōgen players had two functions. First, between acts of noh, they explicated in the vernacular the play’s poetic language. Second, during a conventional full-day program of noh theater, they performed in plays that were interspersed for comic relief. Costumes for kyōgen are noted for their bold resist-dyed patterns on linenlike asa, as opposed to noh costumes’ more elegant woven or embroidered silk.
Artwork Details
- Title: Kyōgen Costume: Jacket (Suō) with Design of Lotuses
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: early 19th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Resist-dyed and painted plain-weave bast fiber (asa)
- Dimensions: Overall: 35 1/4 x 88 in. (89.5 x 223.5 cm)
- Classification: Costumes
- Credit Line: Purchase, Mrs. Roger G. Gerry Gift, 1997
- Object Number: 1997.209.1
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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