Coleus

This print occupies a middle position in Taisui's nine-part coleus series, one of the more sustained botanical explorations in the [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) idiom. Coleus leaves — with their jagged profiles, veining structure, and multi-zone coloration — required the carver to produce a separate block for each color region, often five or more blocks per composition. This fifth variant likely differs from adjacent designs in the number of leaves depicted, their overlapping arrangement, or the dominant color palette. Printed on [washi](/glossary/washi) sized to accept fine detail, the composition would have been registered through the traditional [kento](/glossary/kento) corner guides to align the multiple impression blocks with the precision that Sakai-Kawaguchi craftsmen consistently achieved.