Iris 71

Iris 71 belongs to Namiki's extensive iris series, the high series number indicating a long sustained engagement with the subject. The image likely centers on one or more iris stalks rising vertically through the sheet, the flag-shaped blossoms — typically rendered in deep purple, blue, or white — set against a softly graduated background and accompanied by the plant's characteristic sword-shaped leaves. Iris (hanashobu, kakitsubata) carries strong associations with early summer and with classical Japanese poetry and painting, making it a long-standing [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) subject. Namiki keeps the composition uncluttered, isolating the plant against a near-empty [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) field so that the viewer's attention rests on the silhouette and color of the flower itself. Carved and printed by the artist on handmade [washi](/glossary/washi) using water-based pigments and a [baren](/glossary/baren), the sheet exemplifies the [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) principle of the artist as sole maker, while extending the bird-and-flower tradition into Namiki's distinctly contemporary reductive idiom.