Winter Forest I, Shôwa period, circa 1967-1968

This sosaku-hanga print depicts a winter forest rendered through Matsubara's characteristic bold, expressive carving. Bare or snow-laden trees likely fill the composition with strong vertical rhythms, their forms simplified into broad planes of ink that reveal the physical energy of gouge and chisel work on the block. Produced around 1967–1968, when Matsubara was establishing her independent printmaking practice in Canada, the work reflects her synthesis of Japanese woodblock technique with a graphic directness informed by Western modernism. The limited winter palette — likely deep blacks and cool whites drawn from the unprinted washi surface — creates stark contrast without decorative elaboration. As the first in a series, this print may establish a compositional grammar extended across subsequent states or variations. The forest as subject carries weight in Matsubara's broader practice, where the natural world frequently intersects with themes of solitude, spiritual attention, and the cycle of seasons, all rendered through the direct, hand-controlled process central to sosaku-hanga philosophy.