Snow Figure (Yuki no zo)

A 1958 color woodblock print titled "Snow Figure," or "Yuki no zo" in Japanese, depicting a human form defined by or emerging from snow. Joichi Hoshi merges figure and landscape in a way that dissolves the boundary between person and environment. The snow figure might be a snow sculpture, a person bundled beyond recognition in winter clothing, or an abstract form that reads as both human and elemental. Created in 1958, during Hoshi's early mature period, this print shows his willingness to push woodblock imagery toward ambiguity and symbolic resonance rather than straightforward representation.