Tombo (Dragonfly) - Kyoto I

Companion to the Kirifuri dragonfly issued the previous year, this print transposes the same insect subject to a Kyoto setting, suggesting a series or set built around the dragonfly seen across notable Japanese sites. The Roman numeral I indicates further plates were planned or pulled in the sequence. As in the related Nikko print, Hiroshima employs the mezzotint plate to build a deep, even tonal field from which the tombo emerges through patient burnishing and scraping. The medium's capacity for slight tonal transitions — from full black through smoke-gray to opened highlight — supports the kind of dusky, pre-twilight atmosphere associated with Kyoto in late summer, when dragonflies are abundant. Insect studies of this type form one of the throughlines of Hiroshima's independent practice alongside his work as a contract printer for other artists.