Landscape (Autumn)

This woodblock print depicts an autumnal landscape rendered in Morihiro Sato's characteristically quiet, meditative style. Autumn foliage — likely the amber and russet tones of deciduous trees in their seasonal turn — forms the central subject, a recurring motif in Sato's work that reflects his training under Joichi Hoshi, whose own tree compositions emphasized mood over documentation. The copper embellishment distinguishes this print from Sato's gold- and silver-leaf works, lending the image a warmer, earthier metallic resonance that complements the season's palette. Applied selectively to foliage or atmospheric passages, the copper pigment catches light in ways that flat printing ink cannot achieve, evoking the shimmer of afternoon light through turning leaves. The composition likely employs graduated bokashi shading to suggest depth and atmospheric haze, a technique well-suited to seasonal landscape subjects. Printed on washi, the absorbent paper allows pigments to settle with soft edges characteristic of the sosaku-hanga tradition. The result is a landscape as much about the sensation of autumn — its stillness and transience — as its visual appearance.