Harvest Moon
by Joshua Rome
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
- Image courtesy of
- Japanese Art Open Database
Description
This abstract woodblock print addresses the harvest moon — the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox, traditionally associated with the end of the agricultural year — through the formal and material language of mokuhanga. Rome likely uses large areas of warm orange-amber pigment, the color distinctive to the harvest moon seen low on the horizon through atmospheric haze, balanced against cooler passages that suggest the night sky or darkened landscape beneath. The [washi](/glossary/washi) support, with its characteristic translucency, allows pigment layers to interact optically in ways unavailable to opaque painting media, producing luminous color effects particularly suited to subjects involving light phenomena.






![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
