For forty years Kazuyuki Ohtsu (Japanese, b. 1935) served as an assistant to Kiyoshi Saito, a woodblock artist at the forefront of the ssaku hanga movement, before working on his own. Breaking with the traditional division of labor practiced by Hiroshige, Hokusai, and virtually every other Japanese printmaker who preceded them, the ssaku hanga (creative prints) artists handled every step of print productionthey painted the original pictures, carved the woodblocks, and printed the images. Ohtsus works are poetic contemplations, drawing us into tranquil scenes of natural beauty and harmony.