Snowman

Sekino Junichiro (1914–1988) here takes as his subject the yuki-daruma—the traditional Japanese snowman built in the rounded form of the daruma doll, a Zen-derived ritual object symbolizing perseverance, rather than the Western three-tiered figure. The yuki-daruma is associated with children's play, winter festivals, and the domestic customs of snowy northern regions. Sekino's print likely depicts one or more yuki-daruma figures in a winter setting—a garden, a village lane, or a snowy yard—possibly with human figures nearby suggesting the scale and communal context of the activity. His sosaku-hanga technique handles the rounded white volumes of the forms through shadow gradations that suggest spherical mass without resorting to outline, with characteristic features—charcoal or coal eyes, a broom or bamboo accessory, red and black decorative markings—providing color accents against the white ground. The subject connects to Sekino's broader interest in the seasonal customs and folk traditions of northern Japan, treated with the observational warmth characteristic of his figurative work rather than as mere genre scene.