First Love No.10

First Love No.10 falls in the early-middle range of Okamoto's numbered series, by which point the artist had settled the compositional and tonal language that defines the sequence. Mokuhanga prints in this series center on figures of intimate emotion, rendered through Okamoto's multi-block color technique on [washi](/glossary/washi) paper, with carved woodblocks registered to deposit successive layers of pigment under the [baren](/glossary/baren). [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations build atmospheric ground around the principal figures, characteristic of Okamoto's quiet, controlled palette. Numbered series like First Love — common in postwar mokuhanga practice — allowed artists to investigate a single theme exhaustively, treating each print as a variation rather than a stand-alone work. The mid-series position suggests Okamoto had established his visual vocabulary and was now playing within it. Alongside his botanical and landscape work, this print confirms how the artist carries observational precision into figurative subject matter charged with narrative implication.