This collection of woodblock prints celebrates the seasons and is designed as an open-bound Japanese-style book in accordion format, presented in a slipcase along with a booklet containing the text.

Embracing seasonal change is a fundamental part of Japan's native belief system and a recurring theme in its artistic expression. Japanese artists, including Hokusai, Hiroshige, Harunobu and many others, have long celebrated the infinite cycle and rhythm of nature, as well as the fleeting transience and beauty of the seasons, depicting common customs such as picnics under cherry blossom trees to welcome spring or ritual offerings made during the harvest moon in autumn.

The seasonal iconography includes recurring elements of flora and fauna: plum blossoms, lilies, bluebells, cranes, geese flying in migratory formation. Some pictorial compositions focus on a single season of the year, while many encompass all four seasons together.

This beautiful and elegant collection is the ideal gift for anyone interested in the art and culture of Japan. The classic prints in this collection express essential truths about the natural world and the transience of human experience in a visual language that, while distinctly Japanese, has universal appeal.

Publisher: Rizzoli