Mokuhanga Woodblock Printing

In 2026, I began studying mokuhanga (traditional Japanese water-based woodblock printing), as part of my exploration of analogue processes beyond my predominantly digital illustration practice. I undertook intensive training at Karuizawa Mokuhanga School in Japan with printmaker Terry McKenna, learning the process of carving, registration, colour separation and hand printing with Japanese tools, pigments and washi.

These are my first original mokuhanga prints, bringing together traditional Japanese printmaking techniques with visual themes from sumo wrestling.

Gunbai & Peonies

Gunbai & Peonies combines two recurring elements of my work: sumo and botanical imagery. The gunbai, the wooden fan carried by a sumo referee (gyōji), is surrounded by oversized peonies, transforming a familiar object from the sumo ring into a decorative, contemporary composition. The print was created by hand using five carved woodblocks and six impressions. Edition of 10, April 2026.

Oshiri

Oshiri (おしり, “bum”) was my first mokuhanga print, created during my training at Karuizawa Mokuhanga School in 2026. The print takes a playful subject and reduces it to a simple arrangement of shape, line and colour. Creating it in mokuhanga allowed me to translate the clean forms of my digital illustration into something much more tactile and imperfect, with the texture of the wood, paper and hand-printing process becoming part of the image. As my first original woodblock print, Oshiri marked the beginning of a new direction in my practice and my ongoing exploration of depicting contemporary sumo through traditional Japanese printmaking.

This print was created using four carved woodblocks and four impressions.