Traditional Townscape at Tondabayashi

Traditional Townscape at Tondabayashi depicts the preserved Edo-period merchant district of Jinaimachi in Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture, a designated Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. The composition likely centers on a row of machiya townhouses with their characteristic tiled kawara roofs, latticed mushiko-mado windows, and earth-plastered kura storehouses lining a narrow street. At 46 × 62 cm, the print exceeds standard oban dimensions, allowing detailed treatment of architectural elements — eaves, lintels, sliding shoji screens — that smaller formats would compress. The woodcut technique permits crisp linear definition of timber framing alongside graduated tonal areas for plaster surfaces and roof tiles, often achieved through careful baren pressure variation. The work belongs to Inatsugu's sustained engagement with Japanese architectural heritage as subject matter, aligned with the meisho-e tradition of place-pictures while operating within the postwar sōsaku-hanga ethos of self-carved, self-printed work that he absorbed from his teacher Kurosaki Akira. The print was selected for the 68th CWAJ Print Show in 2025.