Pagoda in Itakura

Itakura, in southern Gunma Prefecture, is the seat of the Raiden Shrine and contains religious architecture set within a surrounding agricultural landscape. The print likely depicts a tiered pagoda placed within or adjacent to a band of trees, with the structure's vertical axis providing a counterpoint to horizontal terrain. Fujita's typical compositional approach reduces the pagoda's tiered roof eaves to a stack of simple geometric forms, consistent with his broader practice of distilling landscape elements to their essential structure. The mokuhanga technique—worked on cherry blocks with hand-applied [baren](/glossary/baren) pressure on [washi](/glossary/washi)—allows the wood grain to register subtly within flat coloured areas, contributing surface texture independent of pictorial detail. The colour scheme is likely restrained, possibly paired with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) in the sky or surrounding foliage. The print sits within a small subset of his work treating built religious architecture rather than purely natural subjects.