Woman Wearing a Straw Coat (Mino o mato fujin) from Tale of the Castle Tower (Tenshu monogatari)

Drawn from Izumi Kyoka's supernatural play Tenshu Monogatari (Tale of the Castle Tower), this 1978 mezzotint depicts a woman wearing a mino, the traditional straw raincoat used by travelers and rural workers. In Kyoka's story, the castle tower is haunted by a beautiful spirit, and the straw coat transforms an ordinary garment into something otherworldly when worn by a supernatural being within the play's gothic atmosphere. Saito's mezzotint technique produces the deep, velvety blacks and luminous tonal transitions that suit the story's nocturnal, mysterious mood. The straw coat's coarse texture contrasts with the woman's refined features, creating a visual tension between rustic material and ethereal presence that mirrors the play's collision of the mundane and the supernatural.