Winter in Yamasato

Winter in Yamasato presents a snow-bound mountain village — yamasato literally meaning a settlement set among the hills. The composition likely arranges a cluster of farmhouses with steep, snow-laden roofs against a backdrop of forested slopes and overcast sky. Such subjects allow Kawashima to exploit the tonal economy of mokuhanga: large fields of unprinted washi can stand in for snow, while sparing applications of grey, indigo, and umber define structures and surrounding terrain. Bokashi is typically employed at the horizon to soften the meeting of sky and mountain, and the visible woodgrain of the block can suggest the texture of weathered timber walls. Printed by hand with a baren onto dampened paper, each impression carries slight variations in registration and saturation. The subject belongs to a long lineage of Japanese landscape art concerned with rural depopulation and the persistence of traditional village life, themes that recur across Kawashima's body of seasonal countryside prints.