Osen Kasa

Komura Settai created many designs for woodblock prints, and most of his prints were made by Adachi and Takamizawa. My teacher trained in the Takamizawa workshop, so I thought it would be a nice idea to attempt creating my own print by Settai. Settai also worked as an illustrator for newspapers and magazines. The image I recreated here was not originally a woodblock print but was published in a newspaper in 1933. The illustration was made for a serialized novel called Osen by Kunieda Kanj.

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Instead of recreating the image with one block and no color variation in the brushstrokes, I decided to use several blocks and separate the lines into different tones to add more interest. This was still early in my printmaking journey, and while this piece is not available for purchase now, if there is enough interest, I may revisit it in the future. I think it would make a great side-by-side comparison of different levels of carving—a concept that’s difficult to convey to new print enthusiasts. 'The life of the line' and the challenge of achieving it with a knife is something that deserves attention.