Illustrated handbook of props for Noh drama (Onō tsukurimono zue)
This is a late Edo-period Japanese manuscript handbook of stage properties for Noh theatre, probably compiled in Japan in the 19th century for theatre makers and performers. Its hand-coloured pages diagram props such as a hand cart, bell tower, shrine structure, bamboo gate and rock, with brief annotations in Japanese. A designer might take its clean, schematic line drawings, flat colour washes and exact labelled views as a model for technical diagrams or pared-back icon systems.
