Nude

Figure studies and nudes occupy a smaller portion of Tokuriki's output than his landscape work, but they reflect his engagement with the sosaku-hanga (creative print) movement, which embraced subject matter outside the classical meisho-e and kacho-e categories. A print of this kind would typically feature a single seated or reclining figure rendered with simplified line work and broad colour blocks, the wood grain often left visible to add textural interest to the skin or the surrounding ground. Tokuriki self-carved and self-printed many of his sosaku-hanga compositions, allowing direct control over baren pressure and the registration of overlaid colour blocks. The treatment of the female form in modern Japanese printmaking drew on both the bijin-ga heritage of artists such as Utamaro and the influence of European life drawing introduced through the yoga (Western painting) academies in Tokyo and Kyoto. Tokuriki's nudes sit at this intersection.