Untitled (inuzuka-taisui)

This untitled woodblock print by Inuzuka Taisui represents the artist's ongoing engagement with the natural world as filtered through the shin-hanga production system. In this collaborative process, the artist created a detailed preparatory drawing (hanshita-e), which a skilled block carver then transferred onto cherry wood blocks, cutting one block for each color in the design. A printer applied pigments to each block in sequence, building up the final image through careful layering. Taisui's designs demanded this precision because botanical subjects require accurate rendering of petal shapes, leaf veins, and color gradations that viewers can compare against their own experience of living plants. The specific flower or bird depicted here has not been documented, but the print reflects the careful naturalism that characterized Taisui's approach to the genre.