The blink of an eye

The title refers to a momentary action—an instant captured in the slow, deliberate medium of woodblock printing—and points to the artist's interest in transient states. Mokuhanga, despite its labor-intensive production process involving carved blocks and hand-pulled impressions on [washi](/glossary/washi), has a tradition of arresting motion and momentary expression, extending from the kabuki actor prints of Toshusai Sharaku in the late eighteenth century through the bird-and-animal studies of subsequent generations. The composition likely concentrates on the subject's face or upper body, where the suggested action—the closing and opening of an eye—is most legible. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations and minimal background detail would direct visual attention to this single moment. Within Fukami Gashu's documented body of work, this print, together with "Thoughts" and "Nostalgic thoughts," forms a thematic group focused on inner states and transitions—the title functioning as a meditation on time, perception, and impermanence, ideas with resonance in Japanese aesthetic and Buddhist tradition.