Woodblock printed Postcard

A small-format mokuhanga in postcard dimensions, this print belongs to a tradition among sosaku-hanga artists of producing diminutive woodblock works for exchange among collectors, fellow printmakers, and association members. Yamaguchi was active in the Nihon Hanga Kyokai and the postwar Graphic Group, and the postcard format functioned both as correspondence and as a vehicle for compact compositional experiment. The reduced scale required tight registration at the kento marks and careful inking with the baren, since flaws in alignment become more conspicuous at this size. The image is likely a condensed abstract or near-abstract motif consistent with Yamaguchi's mature work --- balanced fields of color, textured surfaces, and economical carving --- rather than a pictorial scene. Such postcards form an under-documented but regular strand of sosaku-hanga production and offer insight into how artists worked at intimate scale alongside their full-format prints.