CHIKURIN D (Bamboo Bush D)

Bamboo groves were among the most beloved subjects in East Asian painting and printmaking for centuries, and Kitaoka's designation of this print as variant "D" within a series suggests sustained engagement with the subject across multiple compositions. The bamboo bush is rendered through the woodblock's capacity for clean-edged, repeating forms: the culms rising in straight parallel lines, the feathery leaves compressed into geometric clusters. Kitaoka honors the tradition while bringing it decisively into the modernist present.