Backstroke

Backstroke depicts a figure in the act of swimming, the title's reference to the swimmer's stroke suggesting a body extending through water, arms sweeping overhead in the characteristic rearward arc of the backstroke. Kawabata renders this subject through the mokuhanga process, applying water-based inks to carved woodblocks and transferring them to [washi](/glossary/washi) with a hand-held [baren](/glossary/baren). The water-based medium lends itself to soft gradations—[bokashi](/glossary/bokashi)-like tonal transitions that evoke the fluid, shifting quality of water and submerged or partially visible form. As a miniature print, the composition works within tight dimensional constraints, requiring the artist to compress gesture and movement into a concentrated image where each carved line carries weight. The work was awarded the Grand Prize at the 2021 Awagami International Miniature Print Exhibition, a juried international competition that draws mokuhanga practitioners from across the globe. That recognition reflects both the technical precision of the baren work and the expressive economy of the composition, which uses the traditional vocabulary of Japanese woodblock printing to engage a subject rooted in bodily motion and the sensory experience of water.