A Tower at Nara

This second impression of A Tower at Nara reflects a common practice within [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga), where artists who carved and printed every sheet themselves produced impressions that varied subtly across an edition. Variations might appear in the inking density, the precision of registration between blocks, the tone of the [washi](/glossary/washi) support, or in deliberate changes to the color palette between pulls. The subject remains a Nara pagoda, almost certainly drawn from the surviving wooden towers at Kofuku-ji or Yakushi-ji, treated through Kawano's characteristic reduction of architectural detail to firm contours and stacked geometric roof forms. Comparing the two versions held under the same title offers insight into the working methods of an artist who, in keeping with the sosaku-hanga creed, controlled every stage of production from drawing the design to drawing the [baren](/glossary/baren) across the back of each printed sheet. Such variant impressions are not reproductions but distinct objects, each bearing the marks of a separate act of hand-printing.