Cherry Tree in Autumn Colors at Joshoko Temple (Sakura momiji Joshokoji)
- Date:
- 1967
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; edition 204/300
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Cherry Tree in Autumn Colors at Joshoko Temple ([Sakura](/glossary/sakura) momiji Joshokoji), made by Shiro Kasamatsu in 1967, is a late-career [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) design that turns on a deliberate seasonal inversion. In Japanese aesthetic convention, cherry trees are emblems of spring, viewed and celebrated for their brief flowering; Kasamatsu instead depicts a cherry tree at Joshokoji, a temple, in its autumn coloration, when its leaves have turned to reds and ochres. By selecting this off-season state, he draws attention to the same tree as a year-round presence and to the slower beauty of foliage rather than blossom. The composition centres the tree against the temple's wooden structure, with controlled use of complementary green and grey tones to keep the warm leaves from becoming overpowering. By 1967 the original shin-hanga publishing structure under Watanabe Shozaburo had passed to the second-generation Watanabe firm, but the workshop continued to produce prints under that lineage; Kasamatsu's late work belongs to that continuation of the tradition. The technical execution remains characteristic of shin-hanga at its mature stage: a carved keyblock for fine branch and architectural lines, multiple colour blocks for foliage, and graded [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) printing for atmospheric depth. The print is held in the Art Institute of Chicago and illustrates how the shin-hanga vocabulary developed in the 1920s remained productive well into the postwar decades.
Noka no aki (Miyagi ken Ayashi
1946
Color woodblock print
Woodblock print
1950
Color woodblock print
Autumn 1920
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Cherry Tree in Autumn Colors at Joshoko Temple (Sakura momiji Joshokoji) was created by Shiro Kasamatsu (笠松紫浪) in 1967.
Cherry Tree in Autumn Colors at Joshoko Temple (Sakura momiji Joshokoji) depicts autumn foliage.
