The full title of this beautiful ink-on-paper woodcut is 'Little Egret; Standing on One Leg in the Rain at Night'.

Originally from Kanazawa; Ohara Matao (1877-1945) studied in Tokyo in the 1890s under the artist Suzuki Koson. Matao later adopted his teacher's surname (a Japanese sign of graduation) and began specializing in woodcuts; most of his subjects chosen from nature. He particularly loved birds; and he designed over 450 wood-carved prints of various birds. Koson changed his name after 1910 to Shoson; and later to Hoson.