Pastorale

Created in 1959 as a limited edition of 30 impressions, this color woodblock print borrows its title from the Western musical tradition. A pastorale is a composition evoking rural life, shepherds, and open countryside, and Mizufune Rokushu translates that concept into a visual key. The print likely presents gently rolling forms and soft, earthy colors that suggest farmland, meadows, or grazing fields without rendering them literally. By choosing a European musical term for a Japanese woodblock print, Mizufune signaled his engagement with international artistic vocabulary while working in a distinctly Japanese medium. The small edition size of 30 reflects the [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) principle that each impression should be individually crafted by the artist. As edition number 3, early pulls from the block would have captured the finest detail before repeated printing began to wear the carved surfaces.