Heijo

Heijo refers to Heijo-kyo, Japan's eighth-century capital on the site of present-day Nara, and the print likely depicts one of the surviving or reconstructed structures from that period — the Suzaku-mon gate, a corner watchtower of the imperial palace precinct, or one of the great temple halls such as those at Toshodai-ji or Yakushi-ji that date to the Nara era. Hiratsuka was drawn to early Japanese architecture as a record of continental Tang influence on the archipelago, and his black-and-white mokuhanga method suits the tile roofs, bracket-set eaves, and earthen platforms of the period. Bold parallel gouges across the roof tiles, broad inked masses for the gable shadows, and the white [washi](/glossary/washi) held in reserve for plastered walls would structure the image. The print belongs to his sustained documentary engagement with Japan's classical built heritage, a project that runs in parallel to his Buddhist sculpture series and gives his oeuvre an ethnographic as well as artistic dimension.