Zodiac Series - Sagittarius

Sagittarius, the ninth sign of the zodiac, traditionally depicted as an archer or centaur, is rendered here in Kurosaki's characteristically abstract mode with residual figurative reference. The subject tags indicate that recognizable figure elements persist alongside abstracted passages, suggesting Kurosaki retained enough of Sagittarius's archer silhouette — possibly a drawn bow, diagonal arrow vector, or centaur torso — to anchor the composition in its zodiacal identity while dissolving the form into geometric planes. This tension between legible symbol and pure abstraction is central to his Zodiac Series as a body of work, in which each print must evoke a culturally fixed image through increasingly non-representational means. Kurosaki's woodblock technique favors sharp color boundaries with minimal [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation, emphasizing the flatness and graphic precision he developed through the 1960s and into his Shōwa-period maturity. The print participates in a broader postwar Japanese printmaking dialogue with Western modernism while remaining rooted in the physical craft of hand-carved woodblock on Japanese paper.