War God

This print depicts a Buddhist or Shinto guardian deity, a recurring subject in Matsubara's engagement with Japanese religious iconography. The figure likely takes the form of a Niō temple guardian or a wrathful Buddhist deity such as Fudō Myōō or Bishamonten, rendered through the bold gouge work characteristic of her [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) practice. Unlike the workshop [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) tradition that divided labor between designer, carver, and printer, Matsubara executes every stage herself, allowing the marks of the chisel to remain visible as expressive gesture. The carved planes typically suggest musculature and drapery in broad, simplified shapes, with the grain of the block contributing surface texture. War God connects to her Kyoto upbringing and her sustained interest in Buddhist visual culture, a thread that runs through her work alongside literary and natural subjects. The print sits within the postwar generation of Japanese artists who, like Munakata Shikō and Saitō Kiyoshi before her, returned to religious iconography while rejecting the commercial reproduction model.