Two Women Gathering Spring Herbs

This oban woodblock print by Tsuchiya Koitsu shows two women gathering spring herbs in the countryside. The activity of picking wild greens, known as nanakusa-tsumi, is a seasonal tradition tied to early spring in Japan, when young shoots emerge and families venture into fields and hillsides to collect edible plants. Koitsu renders the figures with a naturalism informed by his training under Kiyochika, placing them within a landscape softened by the fresh growth of the season. Bokashi gradation in the sky and distant terrain establishes depth while keeping the foreground figures clearly defined. The subject links this print to the classical bijin-ga tradition of depicting women in everyday activities, though Koitsu's approach emphasizes the landscape setting as much as the human figures within it.