Hanga
Grasses on the Roof by Tanaka Ryohei — Japanese Etching, 1981

Grasses on the Roof

by Tanaka Ryohei

Date:
1981
Medium:
Etching

Description

An etching from 1981 that turns its attention to the roof — not the full building, but the grasses and wild plants that colonize the aging thatch of a rural farmhouse. Tanaka finds in this humble detail a subject of extraordinary richness: the interplay of cultivated shelter and encroaching nature, the soft texture of living vegetation against the rigid geometry of roof construction. Grasses on a thatched roof signal both the passage of seasons and the slow reclamation of human structures by the natural world.

More Prints by Tanaka Ryohei

More Architecture Prints

Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Frequently Asked Questions

Grasses on the Roof was created by Tanaka Ryohei (田中良平) in 1981.

Grasses on the Roof uses Etching, on etching.

Grasses on the Roof depicts architecture.