Sasajima Kihei (1906 - 1993)

Before WWII Kihei Sasajima studied with Un'ichi Hiratsuka in 1935 and with Shikô Munakata in 1936. Both artists can be seen to have influenced his work: his "wilder" work bears resemblance with Munakata's woodcuts, his landscapes remind one of Hiratsuka's work. After 1962 he is said to have made only religious subjects. Much of his work is characterized by deep grooves: damp paper is forced into the grooves of the woodblock during the printing process, after which the resulting ridges are inked by using tampons. The resulting three-dimensional work is very striking and convincing.