Virgo, from the Zodiac Series, Shôwa period, circa 1973

This print from Kurosaki's Zodiac Series interprets the sixth astrological sign through the abstract geometric vocabulary that defined his mature sosaku-hanga practice. Virgo's traditional association with the maiden and the harvest is translated into interlocking angular forms rather than figurative representation, with the composition likely organized around vertical and diagonal elements that suggest both the upright human figure and the sheaf of wheat conventional in Western zodiac iconography. Kurosaki's characteristic hard-edged color fields, achieved through precise key-block registration and flat ink application on washi, create spatial ambiguity — forms read simultaneously as advancing and receding planes. The oban-format print reflects his training at the Kyoto City University of Arts, where he absorbed nihonga's discipline of controlled surface before redirecting it toward modernist reduction. As a sosaku-hanga work, every stage — design, carving, and printing — was executed by Kurosaki himself, giving the edition a handmade variability distinct from commercial mokuhanga.