
Listening to the stream of the universe
- Medium:
- Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
- Image courtesy of
- Saru Gallery
Description
The poetic title suggests a contemplative composition organized around moving water, likely a solitary figure or empty landscape beside a flowing stream—a subject that allowed sosaku-hanga artists to combine landscape and meditative content within a single image. The Rivers & Lakes context confirms water as the central pictorial element, treated through carefully registered linear carving for currents and possibly bokashi gradations to suggest depth and shadow within the streambed. Such philosophical or metaphysical titles were not uncommon among sosaku-hanga practitioners, who positioned the woodblock print as a vehicle for inward expression rather than illustration. The pictorial restraint typical of Fujimori's mature work—reduced palette, strong block carving, deliberate flatness in passages of color—suits a title that gestures toward audible rather than visible phenomena. The print belongs to the strand of his output where the medium's quiet, layered character carries metaphysical weight, distinguishing it from his more straightforwardly topographical landscape prints of Iizuka and Tokyo.
More Prints by Fujimori Shizuo
More Rivers & Lakes Prints

Lake Chuzenji, Nikko (Nikko Chuzenjiko)
Nikko Chuzenjiko
1930
Color woodblock print; oban

Lake Kugushi in Wakasa Province (Wakasa Kugushiko), from the series Souvenirs of Travel I (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban

Gosai Canal in Niigata (Niigata Gosaibori), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"
Niigata Gosaibori
1921
Color woodblock print; oban

The Hori River at Obama (Obama Horikawa), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, First Series (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"
Obama Horikawa
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Listening to the stream of the universe was created by Fujimori Shizuo (藤森静雄).
Listening to the stream of the universe depicts rivers & lakes.



