The Road of Water

The Road of Water (湧水に行く道, literally "the path leading to spring water") is a 2024 lithograph that, judging from its title, depicts a footpath or rural lane converging on a freshwater spring — a subject rooted in the meisho-e tradition of locating sacred or sustaining sites within the landscape, here translated into a planographic idiom. Lithography on washi, the technique Ueno favors, allows for tonal gradations comparable to bokashi but achieved through greasy crayon and ink rather than the baren-pulled woodblock; the absorbency of Japanese paper softens edges and yields atmospheric passages well suited to depictions of moisture, vegetation, and filtered light. Water as a subject runs throughout Ueno's body of work and reflects her long residence in Kochi Prefecture (1985–2011), a region defined by its rivers and forested watersheds. The print belongs to a continuing series of landscape studies in which a path, stream, or threshold structures the composition, positioning the viewer at the approach to a natural source rather than at the source itself. It was among works carried into her selection for the 68th CWAJ Print Show 2025.