Camellia

This kacho-e depicts the camellia (Camellia japonica, tsubaki), a flower associated in Japanese visual culture with late winter and early spring, and with the contrast between its waxy, enduring foliage and the abrupt fall of its intact blossoms. Koizumi's self-carved and self-printed technique would have required careful key-block registration across multiple color blocks to render the deep red or pink petals against dark green leaves, with gradations likely achieved through selective bokashi rather than flat fills. The camellia was a subject with a long history in Japanese decorative arts and woodblock printmaking; treating it outside the context of the One Hundred Views series allowed Koizumi greater formal latitude. The subject likely foregrounds one or two blooms at close range, emphasizing botanical precision over landscape setting.