Under the Light

At 193 × 101 cm, 'Under the Light' is the largest of Kobayashi's mature vertical compositions and treats the human-scale figure or interior subject in a format closer to a hanging scroll than a conventional oban sheet. The title implies a directional source of illumination — overhead, lamp-lit, or theatrical — and the vertical format permits the kind of top-to-bottom tonal gradation that mokuhanga achieves through bokashi, where water-based pigment is brushed onto a moistened block before each impression and pulled with a baren onto absorbent washi. Working without a press, Kobayashi must register a sheet of this scale by hand against successive blocks, a process that exposes any drift between the carved key block and the colour blocks. The piece anchors his 2024 production and was among the works that brought him to the CWAJ Print Show circuit in 2025, where his decision to pursue traditional water-based mokuhanga at near-architectural scale rather than oil-based or press-printed woodcut distinguishes him from most contemporary Japanese printmakers of his generation.