Two Rabbits

Two rabbits, an unusual subject within Koson's predominantly avian oeuvre but one consistent with the broader kacho-e tradition, which embraced small mammals alongside birds, fish, and insects. Rabbits carry strong associations in Japanese visual culture — the moon-rabbit of folklore, the hare of the lunar zodiac, autumn mid-month festivals — and Koson's pair likely sit among grasses, susuki (pampas grass), or beside a hint of water in a setting that signals season without insisting on it. The technical demand of a rabbit print lies in the fur: the carver must translate soft pelage into discrete cuts, and the printer compensates through soft bokashi and lightly inked impressions that leave the texture of the washi visible through the pigment. Koson's mammal subjects are scarcer than his bird designs and tend to be sought after by collectors precisely because of that comparative rarity within an otherwise large published output.