Nuns

Buddhist nuns (ama or bikuni) represent one of the religious vocations documented in Wada Sanzo's series of Showa-era occupations. The print likely depicts the figures in dark monastic robes, with shaven heads or covered, possibly carrying religious implements - prayer beads (juzu), staves, or alms bowls. Wada's compositional approach isolates the subjects against a minimal ground, drawing attention to the specific habits and accoutrements that identify their religious calling. The work is constructed in nishiki-e fashion - multiple carved blocks for outline and color, registered and printed on washi using the baren - with the flat color planes and assured contour lines typical of his documentary mode. Trained at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts under Kuroda Seiki, where he studied yoga, Wada gives the figures a Western-informed sense of volume despite the simplified surface treatment. Within the series, the nuns sit alongside other traditional figures - pilgrims, oxcart drivers, pearl divers - while modern occupations (pilots, professional golfers, Western musicians) document the parallel modernization of Showa Japan. The series collectively offers a documentary portrait of working life spanning both inherited and emerging vocations.