Grove of Mixed Trees - 雑木林

A mixed woodland grove (雑木林, zōkibayashi) — the secondary-growth forest of deciduous trees that covers much of Japan's upland countryside and has been a beloved feature of the Japanese landscape since at least the Edo period. The zōkibayashi, composed of oaks, chestnuts, maples, and other deciduous species, has a particular aesthetic character at each season: vivid in autumn color, stark and structural in winter, fresh and varied in spring. Aoyama Masaharu's treatment of this modest, familiar subject — not the grand landscape of famous mountains or historic temples, but the everyday woods of the Japanese countryside — reflects the democratic breadth of his sosaku-hanga practice.