Horse Pulling Carriage with Drive, from roof tile

A horse pulling a carriage with a driver — the complete equipage rendered from an ancient Japanese roof tile — gives Hiratsuka a subject that combines animal energy with human purpose. The 1935 woodblock transcription of the tile's circular design treats the scene as a kind of compressed narrative: journey condensed to a single image. The tile's probable origin in a Nara-period aristocratic context gives the image its archaic gravity.