Cat's tail

Cat's tail isolates a single anatomical detail of the feline subject, indicating a fragmentary or close-cropped composition in which the tail occupies the principal pictorial role. Such partial-figure studies are well suited to mokuhanga: the keyblock can carry a long, continuous outline while colour blocks supply gradated tone along the length of the fur. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) printing — achieved by wiping pigment unevenly across the block before each impression — is commonly employed to suggest the soft transition from base to tip. The numeral in the title implies a series or set in which the cat's body is approached through successive studies, a structural device with precedents in earlier [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) print sequences. Within Fukami's broader engagement with the cat as a subject, this work continues the line of feline imagery that runs back through Kuniyoshi, while concentrating on a single zoomed-in detail rather than the whole animal.