Oh,-it's a-rabbit

A small rabbit appearing in a natural setting. This piece departs from Ohtsu's typical landscape work to engage with the kacho-e (bird-and-flower picture) tradition, here adapted to a small mammal subject. The intimate framing — implied by the exclamatory title — suggests a moment of unexpected encounter, the kind of small rural discovery that runs through Ohtsu's wider practice. The mokuhanga technique suits the soft fur textures of the subject, with overlapping color blocks and gentle bokashi gradations producing the modulated tones of a hare set against ground vegetation. The title's casual phrasing fits Ohtsu's accessible, emotionally warm register: rather than a formal nature study, it captures the immediate response of a walker noticing the animal mid-step. Such intimate encounters with the rural environment — the presence of small wildlife along rice paddies, hedgerows, and mountain paths — form part of the pastoral world Ohtsu spent his career documenting, set against the gradual disappearance of that landscape from contemporary Japanese life.