forest summer

"forest summer" is a 77 × 57 cm lithograph depicting a wooded landscape, the dimensions placing it within the larger end of single-sheet contemporary Japanese print formats. As a lithograph rather than mokuhanga, the work is drawn on stone or plate with greasy tusche or crayon, a process that yields graduated tonalities and soft atmospheric transitions distinct from the carved edges and registered color blocks of woodblock printing. Summer-forest subjects in Japanese print traditions characteristically engage with dense canopy, filtered light, and the layered greens of broadleaf or mixed deciduous-coniferous stands — qualities lithographic washes and stippled passages render through tonal modulation rather than contour line. The selection of this print for the 68th CWAJ Print Show in 2025 situates it within the principal annual juried exhibition for contemporary Japanese printmaking, the venue through which much of Igarashi's recent work has reached audiences. The print extends her lithographic practice within the technical and aesthetic lineage descending from her studies under Nagaei Kenji — a track of postwar Japanese print education through direct senior-artist mentorship that runs parallel to formal degree training and to the contemporary mokuhanga revival.