Little Arbiter (Chiisana chusaisha)

Created in 1956, this color woodblock print takes its evocative title from the Japanese chiisana chusaisha, meaning a small mediator or judge. The figure of the little arbiter suggests a child or diminutive character endowed with authority beyond their size, a theme that plays with scale, power, and the inversion of expected hierarchies. Shinagawa renders this conceptual subject through the sosaku-hanga method, where his complete control over design, carving, and printing allows the image to remain faithful to an internal vision rather than an observed scene. The title's literary quality places the print closer to narrative illustration than to the formal abstraction of some of Shinagawa's other work, suggesting a figurative composition built around a central character who mediates between opposing forces or figures.