Bird

This print, the sixth in the bird sequence, likely presents another variation on the same motif — possibly with shifted color, altered pose, or a differently weighted ground. The serial nature of the group reflects the sosaku-hanga interest in the print as artistic statement rather than reproductive object: making seven or eight bird prints is not an act of publication but of investigation. Ono's mokuhanga technique would have involved water-based pigments brushed onto cherry blocks and impressed by hand into dampened washi, the registration controlled by kento marks cut into the block's edge. The resulting print preserves the soft saturation that distinguishes Japanese woodblock from Western relief printing — pigment penetrates the paper rather than resting on top. Coming from an artist also known for substantial historical writing on Japanese printmaking, the work carries the weight of an informed practitioner: each formal choice is locatable within the tradition Ono had documented in his books on the development of creative prints from the Meiji period onward.