Yamato Alley

Yamato — the ancient name for the Nara region, cradle of Japanese civilization — provides the setting for this 1979 etching of a narrow alley. The back lanes and earthen-walled passages of Nara's older districts preserve an architectural character distinct from Kyoto's: slightly rougher, more rural in grain, reflecting Yamato's role as a farming heartland rather than a courtly capital. Tanaka's attention to the specific regional character of alley architecture distinguishes his work from more generic topographical printing.