Quaker Meeting, Shôwa period, dated 1967

Dated 1967 in the Showa period, this woodblock print returns to the Quaker meeting subject that Matsubara explored in multiple works. The 1967 date provides a specific temporal anchor, placing the print during a decade when Matsubara was deeply embedded in New England life and actively seeking subjects that connected her Japanese artistic heritage with her American experience. The Quaker meeting offered precisely this connection: a Western religious practice whose emphasis on silence, inward reflection, and communal simplicity echoed the Zen Buddhist traditions of Matsubara's native Japan. This dated version may represent a more resolved treatment than the undated variants, refined through sustained observation of actual meetings. The woodblock medium's requirement for deliberate, unhurried carving mirrors the patient stillness of Quaker worship itself.