Sono-9

"Sono" in the context of Yoshikawa's titling could refer to either 園 (garden, park) or the demonstrative 其の (that one); both readings are consistent with a non-representational abstract work, and the "-9" indicates the ninth iteration in a series. Yoshikawa's serial method — accumulating numbered prints under a single Japanese keyword — produces variations on a constrained set of formal concerns, comparable to how a composer develops material across movements. As a multi-block mokuhanga, Sono-9 is printed by hand-rubbing with a baren onto sized washi, with each block contributing one or two colors registered through kentō marks cut into the wood. The compositional density and bold color arrangements typical of Yoshikawa's practice — dynamic shapes, saturated fields, no representational anchor — suggest a print where the title operates as a label rather than a subject. Within the contemporary Japanese mokuhanga community Yoshikawa is unusual for her sustained commitment to abstraction; most peers continue working in some representational mode. Sono-9 contributes to her decades-long demonstration that the medium accommodates non-figurative work as readily as landscape or kacho-e.