Autumn wind in the foothills

The foothills referenced here echo the landscape of Hagiwara's birth — Yamanashi Prefecture sits in the foothills of mountains surrounding Mount Fuji, where Hagiwara grew up among river gorges and mineral formations. An autumn wind subject compresses the visible turning of leaves and the moving air into a single layered composition. Hagiwara's mature technique, in which an image accumulates through as many as twenty separately carved and printed blocks, suits the multiple chromatic registers of autumn — the warm reds and ochres tempered by the cool of approaching winter. Bokashi gradients applied at the block level can suggest the diffuse motion of wind through trees. Within his body of work, seasonal landscapes function as a representational counterpart to his abstract Stone Garden series and gemstone-inspired prints; both grow from the same conviction that woodblock printing could carry layered, atmospheric depth comparable to oil paint or watercolor.