Dancing Figure- Taki- LE

This second impression of the Taki limited edition presents another pull from Kawano's blocks for this composition, with the characteristic minor variation in inking and pressure that distinguishes individual [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) impressions within a signed edition. The waterfall subject — whether literal or metaphorical — would inform the print's palette and atmosphere: blues, whites, and grays associated with water imagery in Japanese visual tradition, potentially set against a darker ground achieved through [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation on the background block. A dancing figure positioned near or within a waterfall setting would draw on the [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) tradition of figures in natural environments while pushing toward a more abstract relationship between the human form and its surroundings, as was common in postwar sosaku-hanga practice. The figure's robes, rendered in Kawano's bold, direct carving style, would show the sweep of motion through simplified drapery lines rather than the minute decorative patterning of earlier [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) prints. The LE designation connects both Taki impressions to Kawano's limited-edition production model, through which he supplied the American and European collector market that became his primary audience during the 1950s and early 1960s.