Dokudami No XXXII

Dokudami No XXXII presents a botanical study of Houttuynia cordata, the low-growing herb known in Japanese as dokudami, recognizable by its heart-shaped leaves and the four white bracts that frame a yellow central spike. The Roman numeral designation indicates the print belongs to an extended serial investigation of a single plant subject, a format that allowed Ikeda to explore variations in posture, season, and compositional framing across dozens of sheets. Such serial botanical work draws on the honzogaku natural-history illustration tradition while applying [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) production methods: layered [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) color blocks, fine keyblock outlines registering the leaf veining, and [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations suggesting damp shade where dokudami typically grows along walls and at the bases of fences. Within Ikeda's broader [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) output — herons in shallow water, songbirds on plum branches, carp among autumn leaves — the dokudami series occupies a quieter, more taxonomic register, treating an unglamorous medicinal weed with the same compositional care usually reserved for camellias or peonies, and reflecting the late shin-hanga interest in everyday flora as legitimate subject matter.