Woodpecker

A [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) subject rendered in Hiratsuka's characteristic monochrome mokuhanga manner. The woodpecker, typically depicted clinging vertically to a tree trunk, suits his graphic approach — the bird's banded plumage and the textured bark provide opportunities for contrasting carved areas. Black ink likely defines both the bird's silhouette and the tree's vertical mass, with white space carved away to suggest feather pattern, eye, beak, and the bored holes that mark the woodpecker's labor. As one of more than three thousand prints across his career, the work demonstrates his sustained engagement with the kacho-e tradition, reframed through the [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) commitment to artist-driven design, carving, and printing. The verticality natural to the subject also lends itself to the tall format Hiratsuka often favored for arboreal compositions.