Noh theater in the capital

The Noh theater is only rarely shown in early screen paintings. The play featured at the far left of this screen is Funa Benkei (Benkei in the Boat), written by Kanze Nobumitsu. The boat is represented at stage right by a rope enclosing a group of figures including the twelfth-century warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his bodyguard, the warrior-priest Benkei, who stands at the front. They are at Daimotsu Bay in Settsu in the Inland Sea, where they are threatened by the ghost of Taira no Tomonori. The actor in the role of Tomonori, who had earlier drowned at sea in a battle with the Minamoto forces stands in the entrance passage at stage left (hashigakari), wearing a large wig and wielding a long halberd (naginata). Yoshitsune and his men are saved thanks to the powers of the wrathful deity Fudo Myoo.

For a later screen painting of Funa Benkei see Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Museum of Art, Ehime, The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts and Yomiuri shinbun Osaka honsha, eds., Edo kaiga e no atsui manazashi: Indianaporisu bijutsukan meihinten/Japanese Masterworks: Paintings from the Indianapolis Museum of Art (Osaka: Yomiuri shinbun Osaka honsha, 2004), pl. 18.