Source

This work is identified as an etching rather than a mokuhanga — a reminder that Hagiwara worked across intaglio as well as relief media, particularly in the later phases of his career. As an etching, the print would have been made on a metal plate prepared with acid-resistant ground, drawn through with a needle, then bitten in acid to vary line strength, with tonal passages possibly added through aquatint or plate tone. The title likely refers to a spring or wellhead — a subject continuous with Hagiwara's lifelong attention to the geological landscape of his native Yamanashi, where the rivers run from the foothills of Mount Fuji. Etching afforded a more linear, drawn quality than his woodblock work and a different range of grays. The print shows how Hagiwara extended his abstract vocabulary across techniques while remaining grounded in observed natural phenomena.