Kites in Winter

Departing from the fish subjects of the 'Dai Nihon Gyorui Gashu,' this print depicts black kites (tobi, トビ, Milvus migrans), the large raptors that are among the most commonly sighted birds of prey across Japan. In a winter setting, Ohno strips the landscape to its essential tonal elements: cold, pale sky, perhaps bare branches or a coastline below, and the dark silhouettes of kites in flight or perched against the season's spare light. The kite's characteristic forked tail, visible in flight, is a reliable compositional marker. Ohno's handling of atmospheric space likely employs the full-bleed bokashi gradients that give the series its characteristic sense of ambient light, the sky shading from a cool grey-white at the horizon through a deeper blue-grey toward the upper margin. The kites, bold ink-black forms with warm brown wing panels, provide the visual anchor against this restrained ground. The winter setting accentuates stillness and isolation, qualities consistent with a strain of subdued melancholy in the Japanese seasonal sensibility.