Garden in Autumn, Shôwa period, dated 1961

The Showa-period Garden in Autumn from 1961 belongs to Saito's sustained engagement with Kyoto's great designed landscapes—those arrangements of stone, moss, water, and shaped tree that the Zen tradition developed over six centuries into an art form rivaling painting in its formal ambition. The autumn season transforms these gardens through color: maple red and ginkgo yellow against the deep green of pine and the grey of volcanic stone, a palette that suited Saito's bold flat-plane style.