Saito Kaoru

A mokuhanga print bearing the artist's name as its title, this work occupies an unusual position within Saito Kaoru's catalogue, which is otherwise dominated by intaglio and mezzotint rather than relief printmaking. The use of cherry-wood blocks, [washi](/glossary/washi) paper, and water-based pigments applied with the [baren](/glossary/baren) places the print within the traditional Japanese woodblock idiom that Saito largely set aside after 1968 in favor of European intaglio methods. Whether produced as a self-portrait, a signed name-block, or a collaborative [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) homage, the piece reflects the artist's continued awareness of his country's print heritage even as his mature practice pursued mezzotint's tonal subtleties. Its presence among his etchings underscores Saito's bridging position between the woodblock tradition associated with Yoshida or Munakata and the intaglio idiom he shared with Hamaguchi Yozo, the other Japanese specialist who anchored the post-war mezzotint revival.