Perennial summer

A summer-themed composition, likely a woman set against motifs of seasonal warmth such as a folding fan, a light cotton yukata, or summer flora. The mezzotint medium yields a tonal range from deep black to luminous white, which Saito uses to evoke the heavy stillness and diffused light associated with Japanese summer afternoons. The title's phrasing—perennial, suggesting continuity rather than transience—pulls the seasonal subject away from the mono no aware of fleeting beauty toward a quieter constancy. Saito, working from Kanagawa Prefecture, returned often to feminine subjects through his career, building each plate by rocking the surface to a uniform ground and burnishing back the highlights. The patient labor of the rocker is visible in the velvet uniformity of the dark passages.