Ascetics' cave

An atypical subject for Shinsui, who is identified almost entirely with [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga); the title points to a [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) or narrative scene depicting yamabushi or Buddhist hermits at a mountain retreat. The composition would likely set the dark mouth of the cave against pale rock and foliage, exploiting the contrast that mokuhanga handles particularly well through deep [sumi](/glossary/sumi) blocks and [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations on stone surfaces. Figures, if present, would be small in scale, suggesting the spiritual subordination of human presence to landscape — a treatment closer to nihonga handscroll convention than to standard [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) formats. Works of this kind sit at the edge of Shinsui's print output, where his training under Kaburagi Kiyokata and his parallel career as a nihonga painter occasionally surface in subjects beyond the female figure. The print rewards attention to carving texture in the rockwork and to the restrained palette typical of his more contemplative designs.