Onaga-dori

An onagadori — the extraordinary long-tailed breed of Japanese fowl developed in Kochi prefecture during the Edo period, whose tail feathers can grow to several meters in length — rendered in Hodo's kachō-ga woodblock style. The onagadori was celebrated as a living example of selective breeding taken to an aesthetic extreme, its impractically long tail feathers trailing behind it like the train of an imperial robe. Hodo's rendering of this unique bird captures both its biological improbability and its undeniable visual magnificence.