Set within a mist-softened riverscape, this work channels the atmospheric subtlety of Yokoyama Taikan and the Nihonga masters who perfected mōrō-tai, the “hazy style.” The maple leaves, caught mid-fall, emphasize the impermanence of the season, while the subdued gold-ochre palette evokes silk-bound hanging scrolls of the late Meiji era. Pepe, dressed in a simple kimono and standing with folded hands, becomes a quiet observer of transience: a figure suspended between presence and melancholy. His introspective posture echoes the period’s search for national identity through nature, transforming him into a modern poetic wanderer, an amphibian mono no aware pilgrim contemplating the slow passage of time.