Fingered citron — 仏手柑

The fingered citron (busshukan, 仏手柑, Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis) is an unusual citrus fruit whose elongated, finger-like segments give it the appearance of a Buddhist hand in a mudra gesture — the source of its Japanese name, meaning Buddha's hand fragrant citrus. It appears in Japanese decorative art as a motif associated with auspiciousness and religious symbolism, and its structural form — multiple tapering yellow protrusions radiating from a shared base — presents a compositional subject with inherent visual complexity. Kokei renders this botanical subject in woodblock, requiring multiple color blocks to capture the gradation from pale yellow at the tips to deeper gold toward the base, with fine line work defining the individual segments and their slight surface texture. Such botanical prints situate Kokei within a broader tradition of Japanese natural history illustration while demonstrating the adaptability of his multiblock technique to static, close-observed subject matter.