A Long Spring Day

Description

Here, Nishijima Katsuyuki depicts Shimotsui, a port town on the Seto Inland Sea. The title suggests a pleasant spring day, with long shadows stretching yet sunlight still bright. The viewer looks over traditional rooftops, likely from the edge of the town. This woodblock print is one of the few largest works Nishijima Katsuyuki has created, and among the largest we have on offer. Producing woodblock prints of this size poses challenges for artists. While carving the woodblocks is more laborious, it is not significantly more complex; the real difficulty lies in the printing process, as the printer must apply pressure evenly over a much greater distance. Moreover, even the slightest misalignment becomes magnified at this scale, resulting in a significant deviation on the opposite end. Nishijima Katsuyuki is one of the few artists capable of working at this scale, though even he produced only a handful of designs this large.