Dogwood 4

Dogwood 4 belongs to Namiki's numbered series on the flowering dogwood (hanamizuki), a tree introduced to Japan in the early twentieth century as a gift from Washington in return for the cherry trees sent to the United States. The dogwood subject sits alongside Namiki's Tree Scene and Weeping Cherry sequences as one of his recurring botanical motifs. The composition likely centers on a single tree or branch in bloom, with the four-bract flowers carved as flat, planar shapes against a graduated ground, since the dogwood's geometric blossom rewards Namiki's reductive treatment. The print is pulled by hand on handmade [washi](/glossary/washi) using water-based pigments and [baren](/glossary/baren), with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradients producing the atmospheric background characteristic of the artist's work. As a [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) practitioner, Namiki carries out each stage from design to printing without delegation. Within the broader body of work, the dogwood prints extend his focus on the solitary tree to a non-native species, while preserving the contemplative compositional formula that runs through his entire output.