Kabuto gate of Konnichi-an

Konnichi-an ('Hut of Today') is the historic tea room at the Urasenke headquarters in Kyoto, established in the seventeenth century by Sen Sōtan, grandson of Sen no Rikyū. The kabuto-mon, or 'helmet gate,' takes its name from the curved profile of its roof, which suggests a samurai's helmet, and serves as one of the principal entrances into the Urasenke compound. Tokuriki's print most likely renders the gate among its surrounding tile-capped earthen walls and approach path, materials and forms central to Kyoto's chashitsu architecture. As the twelfth-generation representative of a Kyoto artisan family long tied to Honganji and to the city's traditional crafts, Tokuriki had unusual access to this material, and the work belongs with his sustained [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) treatment of Kyoto's religious and ceremonial sites. The mokuhanga technique—blocks carved in cherry wood and pigments brushed and printed by [baren](/glossary/baren) onto handmade [washi](/glossary/washi)—suits the restrained surfaces and quiet geometry of Urasenke architecture, with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) likely used for the wall and ground tones.