Hot spring

Among the most personal subjects in Maekawa's output, his onsen (hot spring) prints depict bathers — often women or mixed groups — relaxing in outdoor or indoor mineral baths surrounded by steam and rock. This print almost certainly continues that series, showing figures immersed to the shoulders in a steaming pool, their expressions conveying ease and contentment. Maekawa brought genuine humanism to these scenes, treating the nude or partially clothed body without prurience. The steam offered a compositional device for soft bokashi passages that dissolve edges and create atmosphere. He produced numerous onsen prints across his career, and they are considered among his most characteristic works.