Nandin

Nandina domestica, called nanten in Japanese, is a shrub bearing clusters of red berries traditionally associated with New Year and used in seasonal floral arrangements. Hiratsuka's treatment in monochrome woodcut translates the plant's distinctive form — compound leaves, slender stems, dense berry clusters — into a graphic structure of carved line and unworked [washi](/glossary/washi). The berries, which would carry color in a polychrome [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) treatment, become circular voids or solid black dots in his vocabulary. The print sits within Hiratsuka's broader plant studies, which use botanical subjects to explore the formal possibilities of the carved block stripped of color. Working as a [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) artist, he handled every stage himself, and the print registers the directness of a single hand moving from drawing to carving to [baren](/glossary/baren)-pulled impression on a single sheet of washi.