Six white herons in various directions, five circles in different sizes, and the reddish flowering plums are represented in the method of Norizome, or paste-resist dyeing, onto the pongee and that is soberly dyed. A seal is inscribed on the back: Shirasagi (Snowy herons) / Moyura-sho / Inagaki Toshijiro. Moyura-sho is a textile dyeing group founded by Inagaki Toshijiro, Ogo Tomonosuke, Sano Takeo, and others, and its first exhibition was held in 1942.

The present work was exhibited at the posthumous retrospective Inagaki Toshijiro held by the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, three years after his death. It could be identified the present work as the one, titled Shirasagi (Soberly-dyed small folding screen), recorded to be displayed in the sixteenth Kokuga-kai in 1941. It was also the time when Inagaki, after graduating from Kyoto Craft High School, headed to Tokyo for his career immediately lost his father Chiku’u and brother Chusei at twenty. The loss of the family compelled Inagaki’s return to Kyoto, yet he still kept submitting his works to the craft division of Kokuga-kai. Later he co-founded the Shinsho kogei-kai with Tomimoto Kenkichi and others, which inspired him the making of kataezome, or stencil dyeing, since then. Inagaki’s determined endeavors earned him a nationwide recognition as Inagaki of the west as parallel to Serizawa Keisuke of the east. The present work imparts the style of his early years.

Inagaki Toshijiro (Kataezome artist; 1902–1963)
Kyoto-born Kataezome (stencil dyeing) artist. Younger brother of Inagaki Chusei. After graduation from Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, worked as a designer at Mitsukoshi and Matsuzakaya, and later became independent. Co-founded Shinsho kogei-kai with Tomimoto Kenkichi. Active in Bunten (Ministry of Education Art Exhibition) and Nitten (The Japan Fine Arts Exhibition). Director of Japan Kogei Association. Appointed Kyoto City University of Arts professor. Designated a holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property, Kataezome in 1962.