Hagoromo B — 飛天 - Hiten

The Hagoromo B — Hiten print depicts a tennyo or flying celestial figure (飛天), drawing on a subject with roots in Indian, Chinese, and Japanese Buddhist visual tradition. In Japanese art, hiten appear in painted and sculpted form across temple interiors from the Nara period onward, typically shown in airborne poses with trailing scarves and robes. Kawano's [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) interpretation brings this traditional imagery into mid-twentieth-century printmaking, with the artist handling every stage of the process — design, carving, and printing on [washi](/glossary/washi) — to produce an intimate, handmade object distinct from the collaborative commercial prints of the [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) tradition. The bold carved lines and areas of vivid, unmodulated color that characterize this print reflect both Kawano's training and the aesthetic priorities of the creative print movement, which valued direct expression over technical polish.