Autumn in Aizu (B)

One of multiple versions Saito produced exploring autumn in his home Aizu region, this print likely presents the season's foliage through the flattened, graphic vocabulary that distinguished his sosaku-hanga work from more decorative predecessors. The designation "B" indicates a variant within a series — possibly differing from another version in palette, composition, or block carving. Saito characteristically rendered autumn color not through gradated bokashi but through discrete, heavily carved planes of ochre, crimson, and sienna, allowing the texture of the wood grain to read through lighter areas of the printed surface. The Aizu landscape in autumn — its temple precincts, farmhouses under zelkova trees, or mountain ridges — gave Saito material he approached with quiet authority, producing images whose structural confidence separates them from purely seasonal sentiment.