Dancing Fox

In this whimsical Japanese color woodcut, a fox holds a giant green leaf on its head and dances on its hind legs in the rain. A prolific printmaker, Ohara Koson created hundreds of kachōga, a genre encompassing images of nature. Translating characteristics of traditional Japanese painting into color woodcuts, Koson depicted flowers, insects, fish, birds, and mammals. Dancing Fox is one of a few in which he imagined a lighthearted scenario.