Dogwood 3-A

Dogwood 3-A belongs to a small numbered set within Namiki's output devoted to flowering dogwood (hanamizuki), a species introduced to Japan from North America in the early twentieth century and since naturalised in parks and avenues. The print likely centres on a single flowering branch or a section of canopy seen close in, the four-bract blossoms isolated against a softly graduated [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) field that provides depth without descriptive setting. The '3-A' designation indicates a particular state or colour variant of the third composition in the dogwood group. Namiki carves and prints each block himself, working in the [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) tradition with water-based pigments brushed onto the moistened block and pulled onto handmade [washi](/glossary/washi) with a [baren](/glossary/baren); the pale bracts are typically achieved by leaving the paper unprinted within carefully cut outline blocks. While the bulk of his work treats forests and solitary trees, the Dogwood prints briefly align his practice with the [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) tradition of bird-and-flower pictures, narrowing his focus from the silhouette of a tree to the structure of a single bloom.