After the rain

This print treats a moment of stillness following a passing shower, a subject Japanese poetry and painting have used since the Heian period to evoke transience and freshness. Shinsui produced several treatments under after-the-rain and rain-themed titles across both his [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) and his landscape work. A bijin-ga reading typically shows a figure with a closed wagasa umbrella, a damp hem, or wet hair, the rain registered through these details rather than through falling drops. Compositionally the print balances the figure against a ground modeled in wet [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) — gradations of gray and indigo applied with a damp [baren](/glossary/baren) — that suggest moisture without explicit description. Within Shinsui's wider work, weather and season function in much the same way: a small set of motifs orient the figure within a recognizable Japanese sensory world. The design was issued through Watanabe Shozaburo, whose collaborative [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) model coordinated Shinsui's drawing with the carving and printing necessary to achieve the wet-ground effect.