Hirugao - ひるがお

Hirugao (ひるがお, field bindweed or morning glory) — a delicate flowering vine that opens its trumpet-shaped blossoms in the morning and closes them by afternoon, its ephemerality making it a natural emblem of transience and the pleasures of a particular hour. Nakajima Kiyoshi's choice of this modest wildflower as a subject reflects his broader interest in the natural world's small, easily overlooked beauties — the bindweed growing in a field, catching the morning light for a few hours before closing again. His painterly woodblock technique renders the vine's slender tendrils and soft pink blossoms with the freshness of direct observation.