View Of Nara

Nara, capital of Japan from 710 to 794, is the setting for one of the country's densest concentrations of ancient temple architecture, including the Daibutsuden of Todai-ji, the five-story pagoda of Kofuku-ji, and the deer park at the foot of Mt. Wakakusa. Sekino's "View of Nara" likely organizes one of these landmarks within an open landscape, foregrounding tiled roofs, the silhouette of a pagoda, or a stretch of the parkland. Multi-block woodcut on washi allows him to render the ordered geometry of the wooden structures in flat planes against more freely modulated bokashi skies. The print sits within Sekino's broader engagement with Japan's historical sites, paralleling his Tokaido cycle and his portraits of cultural figures: an ongoing inventory of the country's places and people executed in the creative-prints method, where the artist alone is responsible for design, carving, and impression rather than relying on the Edo-period workshop.