Rooster and Hen

Rooster and Hen pairs a male and female chicken in a composition that explores the contrasts between the sexes: the rooster's dramatic comb, wattle, and arched tail feathers against the hen's more compact, earth-toned plumage. Chickens have been depicted in Japanese art since at least the Heian period, and they carry associations with the dawn, punctuality, and the Shinto deity Amaterasu, whose emergence from hiding was prompted by a rooster's crow. Sozan renders the pair in the oban woodblock format, using the strong reds of the rooster's comb and the subtle browns of the hen's feathers to create a color dialogue between the two birds. The paired composition allows each bird's form to define the other, the rooster's vertical display complementing the hen's horizontal stability.