Old Fisherman in a Net-House (Amigoya no rojin)

An old fisherman in his net-house (amigoya) — the shed where nets are mended and stored — is rendered in this 1966 print (edition 40/50) as a study of a figure absorbed in work. The net-house, with its characteristic smell of salt and rope, its dim interior filtered by drying nets, provides a rich environment that Kitaoka suggests through careful attention to light and texture. The old fisherman himself embodies a kind of working dignity — a figure who has spent a lifetime at sea and carries that life in the set of his shoulders and the economy of his movements.