（柿と目白）

Persimmons and Japanese White-eye (mejiro) places two autumn subjects in dialogue: the heavy orange fruit of the kaki tree and the small green songbird that commonly feeds on overripe persimmons after the first frosts. The mejiro, with its distinctive white eye-ring, was a popular subject in the kacho-e tradition alongside sparrows, kingfishers, and warblers. Kiyochika applies his characteristic study of natural light to the translucency of ripe persimmon skin and the delicate plumage of the bird. The composition likely balances the weight of clustered fruit against open space, a structural approach inherited from earlier kacho-e masters but inflected with the more empirical observation of light and texture Kiyochika absorbed from Western painting.