A garden pond stocked with nishikigoi is among the most established subjects within twentieth-century mokuhanga, and Ido approached it from the perspective of a Kyoto-based artist long familiar with the temple-garden tradition — Daikakuji's Osawa-no-ike, the ponds of Heian-jingu, and the smaller water features attached to sub-temples throughout the eastern hills. The print reads as a close, slightly elevated view downward onto rocks, water, and the patterned backs of the carp, a vantage that recalls how visitors actually look at koi from the engawa or the stone bridge. Compositionally the work depends on the contrast between the dark, weighty mineral mass of the rocks (printed flat, often with [sumi](/glossary/sumi)-deep keyblock outlines) and the dappled red, white, and gold of the fish, where multiple impressions and selective [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) suggest movement under the surface. Among Ido's many seasonal Kyoto subjects, koi pond views fall into the [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) adjacent strand of his work — quiet, contained vignettes of the cultivated landscape rather than the wider city panoramas.
Rocky pond with koi was created by Ido Masao (井堂雅夫).
Rocky pond with koi depicts fish and rivers & lakes.
