Woodpecker- LE — 啄木鳥

The limited edition Woodpecker — kitsutsuki (啄木鳥) — is among Kawano's most carefully controlled bird compositions, the LE designation indicating a print run produced under direct artist supervision. The woodpecker was a subject with particular resonance for a printmaker: the bird's method of excavating wood with precise, repeated blows mirrors the woodblock carver's own practice, and Kawano may have been drawn to this subject in part for its oblique self-reference. The Japanese characters confirm the subject and root the image in the Japanese natural world.