DDT before disembarkation

This second "DDT before disembarkation" composition treats the same subject as its companion print — the spraying of repatriated Japanese civilians with DDT pesticide by occupation authorities before they were allowed to leave the ship — from a different vantage or with a recut block. Multiple compositions on a single subject were a familiar working practice within [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga), where the artist controlled every stage of production and could revisit a scene through alternative framings. Kitaoka, himself repatriated from occupied Manchuria in 1946, drew the imagery from direct experience following his wartime assignment with the Northeast Asia Culture Development Society. The print belongs to a documentary group within his early oeuvre that registers the dislocation of the immediate postwar period, distinct from both his later European urban subjects and his eventual move toward abstract Japanese landscapes. Technical qualities likely include strong key-block silhouettes for the masked figures of the disinfection officers, a restrained palette suited to the institutional setting, and the absence of decorative [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) associated with Edo-period [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) or [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e).