Go Go Koinobori (Sho)

Go Go Koinobori (Sho) takes as its subject the koinobori — the carp-shaped wind streamers raised on poles for Tango no Sekku (Children's Day, May 5th), where each fish traditionally represents a member of the household. The 'Sho' (小) designation indicates the smaller format within Kaneko's Koinobori series, and the Calligraphy tag points to the integration of brushed kanji or hiragana into the printed image, a recurring compositional device in his festival-themed work. Typical of Kaneko's mokuhanga technique, the carp would be rendered in flat blocks of vivid color — reds, blues, blacks — with scales and fins reduced to rhythmic graphic patterns rather than naturalistic detail, the calligraphic element functioning both as title and as a structural element of the design. The print sits alongside his Happi Man, festival, and seasonal subjects as part of an ongoing engagement with Japanese annual observances rendered in a contemporary graphic idiom. The combination of seasonal iconography and brushwork-as-image reflects Kaneko's broader project of bringing modern design sensibilities into the traditional woodblock medium without abandoning its cultural source material.