Morning Glory

Morning Glory takes up a subject with a long history in Japanese printmaking, where the asagao has appeared as a [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) motif from the Edo period onward. The flower's twining vines, heart-shaped leaves, and trumpet-form blooms lend themselves to woodblock production: the curving stems can be carved as continuous keyblock lines, while the layered petals accept [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations that move from a saturated edge into a paler centre or vice versa. In mokuhanga, morning glory subjects are typically printed on [washi](/glossary/washi) with multiple colour blocks aligned by kentō marks, producing the soft tonal modelling and clean outlines associated with the genre. Within Nakajima Kiyoshi's body of work, the print sits alongside other natural and atmospheric subjects, reflecting a practice that engages established hanga themes — flowers, weather, wind — through a vocabulary consistent with mid-to-late twentieth-century Japanese printmaking. A second print of the same title indicates a paired or alternative composition on the motif.