Chichibu Nagatoro

Nagatoro Gorge in the Chichibu region of Saitama Prefecture is known for its stratified rock outcrops and the Arakawa River that cuts through them. As a [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) subject, Hiratsuka treats the location through his [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) aesthetic rather than the topographic conventions of nineteenth-century landscape series. Bold black ink likely renders the layered rock formations, with the river either left as the unprinted white of the [washi](/glossary/washi) or carved with rhythmic linear patterns suggesting current. Hiratsuka traveled extensively throughout Japan documenting landscapes, temples, and shrines, and this Nagatoro print situates within a body of work that approaches familiar Japanese sites through the modernist vocabulary of the creative print movement, in which the artist designs, carves, and pulls the impression himself rather than directing block-cutters and printers.