Preparing Tea at Miyako Odori Festival

This second variant of Suizan's Miyako Odori tea-preparation subject likely shows the same ceremonial moment from a different angle or in a different colorway, reflecting the shin-hanga practice of issuing related compositions either as series companions or as later printings with revised palette. The pre-performance tea service, in which a senior maiko in formal kuro-tomesode or a junior maiko in elaborate seasonal furisode prepares thin matcha for the seated audience, was a defining ritual of Gion's spring season and a natural subject for a Kyoto bijin-ga specialist. Suizan's compositional approach — drawn from his Takeuchi Seihō training — typically favors a single figure framed by the negative space of a tatami room, with attention to the precise positioning of the chasen, chawan, and natsume. The print would be carved as a multi-block nishiki-e on washi, with bokashi used in the kimono ground and the wall behind the figure to suggest the warm interior light of the theater tearoom. Together with its companions, it forms part of Suizan's documentary engagement with Gion's annual cycle of geiko culture.