Hanga
Distant view of Nicholai cathedral by Fujimori Shizuo — Japanese Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)

Distant view of Nicholai cathedral

by Fujimori Shizuo

Medium:
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
Image courtesy of
Saru Gallery

Description

This print depicts the Holy Resurrection Cathedral in the Kanda district of Tokyo—commonly called Nicholai-do after its founder, the Russian Orthodox missionary Bishop Nikolai—seen from a remove rather than approached frontally. The Byzantine dome and bell tower would have read as an emphatically foreign silhouette against the surrounding rooftops, and the choice to frame the building as a distant landmark places it within the urban fabric of the city rather than treating it as an isolated monument. The subject is characteristic of Fujimori's broader engagement with modern Tokyo, where Western-derived architecture and the older wooden city existed in close proximity. As a sosaku-hanga work, the print reflects the movement's commitment to the artist's own carving and printing of every block, so any flattening of architectural detail or rough cutting of contour lines is a deliberate compositional choice rather than a technical limitation.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Distant view of Nicholai cathedral was created by Fujimori Shizuo (藤森静雄).