Ikarugadera Temple in Early Autumn

The print depicts the five-storied pagoda of the Horyuji, the oldest surviving temple in Japan. It was the largest print Hiratsuka had ever made in 1942; this work's size alone indicates the importance the artist attached to it.

The artist has said of this work, "The famous Horyuji Temple in Nara is the oldest wooden building of the world. The pagoda displays the beautiful characteristics of Asuka-style architecture. I sketched it before various repairs were made. The trees in the foreground are [rendered] in a decorative style in order to make the tower stand out."(1)

As the son of a shrine carpenter and the grandson of an architect, he saw the pagoda in terms of its structure and components, reconstructing them in two dimensions with power and assurance. His jagged lines carved with a V-shaped chisel give strength and mass of his forms.

Hiratsuka Un'ichi was a master of black and white. The interplay of light and dark creates powerful staccato rhythms that give vibrancy to his works. One of the artists in the early Creative Print (sosaku hanga) movement, Hiratsuka directly or indirectly influenced almost every major Japanese printmaker of the twentieth century.

(1) Helen Merritt, Bernd Jesse, et al, Hiratsuka: Modern Master. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago) 2001: 71.