
Hiratsuka Un’ichi was one of the major figures to emerge from the sosaku hanga (creative print) movement in Japan. He taught printmaking at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts from the inception of the Department of Printmaking in 1935. His mature period is characterized by prints done only in black ink, a style that sprang from his appreciation for the Japanese traditions of ink painting and line drawing.
Hiratsuka’s subjects vary greatly but include Buddhist images, monuments, and portraits of friends and family members. His large pictures of temple buildings and their grounds, like this print, were produced during his most energetic period of creation in the 1960s and rank among his best-known works.

Komurasaki of the Miuraya and Shirai Gompachi (Miuraya Komurasaki, Shirai Gompachi)
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 Japanese, c.1753-1806

Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858

Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858