Kyoto No12 Imamiya Gate

This etching depicts a gate at Imamiya Shrine in Kyoto's Murasakino district, a Heian-period sanctuary historically associated with protection from disease. Tanaka renders the timber gate with the dense, controlled line work characteristic of his copperplate practice, building tonal weight through patient cross-hatching and bitten line rather than aquatint washes. The architectural focus — beam joinery, weathered wood grain, the dark interior recess beneath the eaves — reflects his enduring attention to vernacular Japanese building traditions. The Kyoto series, of which this is plate twelve, represents one of his sustained explorations of the city's quieter shrines, alleys, and temple precincts, away from the better-known sightseeing destinations. Like his rural minka studies, the print treats architecture as a record of accumulated time, with the etched line registering the slow erosion of timber and stone. The composition isolates the gate from its surroundings, a framing device Tanaka favored throughout his career to direct attention to a single architectural subject.