Seki no to 関の戸 / Gekko zuihitsu 月耕随筆

This Ogata Gekko woodblock print, titled *Seki no to* from the series *Gekko zuihitsu*, shows a crouching man in the foreground wearing green armor with pale rectangular patterning, an orange under-robe, and a flowing vermillion cloak, gripping a long pole tipped with a dark blade; he wears a red cap and has a mustache and a wide-eyed, exaggerated expression. Behind him, in the upper right, a pale female figure in a lavender floral kimono over pink underlayers is rendered in soft, desaturated tones, her form dissolving into a grey, smoky backdrop with dark foliage or rock shapes. The contrast between the boldly colored foreground figure and the ghostly, muted woman gives the scene an eerie, theatrical mood, framed by a vertical title cartouche at upper left and a red seal at lower right.