Autumn In Nakajima

Nakajima Park, in central Sapporo, is among Hokkaido's recognised urban green spaces, with a pond, ginkgo and maple trees, and the Hassoan teahouse. Autumn there produces saturated reds and yellows against the dark conifers ringing the park, and the subject suits Maeda's interest in the regional landscape of his home island. A print on this theme would rely on layered color blocks to register the chromatic depth of autumn foliage, with bokashi softening the transition from sky to water and a clear keyblock describing tree trunks and architectural elements. The Nakajima subject sits alongside Maeda's other Hokkaido views — Hakodate, the mountain ranges, the coastal capes — as part of a sustained engagement with northern places. Compared with the poetic autumn views of the Tokaido road in earlier ukiyo-e, Maeda's Nakajima is a specific modern park, depicted with the topographical clarity that distinguished mid-twentieth century mokuhanga from its nineteenth-century antecedents.