Just woke up

Just Woke Up captures a cat in the disheveled moment between sleep and full alertness — half-lidded eyes, rumpled posture, the slow stretch that precedes movement. Nishida treats this transitional state with the same contemplative attention he brings to dawn or twilight in his landscape prints, where a brief atmospheric condition becomes the subject. The mokuhanga process suits such soft moments: overlapping color blocks build the warm tones of fur, while [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations describe shadow and the diffused light of an interior. Line is reserved for the eyes, ears, and outline, allowing the broader masses of the body to read as gentle washes of pigment on absorbent [washi](/glossary/washi). This print belongs to Nishida's ongoing cat series, distributed through hangaten exhibitions and smaller editions alongside his better-known seasonal landscapes. Where Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms place his work within [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) and [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) traditions, the cat prints extend that observational tradition into domestic life, treating an everyday creature with the same patient looking the artist applies to mountains and trees.