Snow Landscape with River, Taishô period, dated 1920

Produced in 1920, this landscape print depicts a river in a winter setting, likely in the vicinity of Kyoto or central Japan. Snow scenes in shin-hanga work rely on the bare washi ground to convey unbroken white surfaces, with color reserved for shadows — blue-gray or lavender bokashi indicating the depth of snow banks — and for the dark ribbon of a river cutting horizontally through the composition. Bare trees with dark ink-line branches, or possibly snow-laden foliage, would articulate the banks and provide vertical structure. Goyo's characteristic precision of line and tonal control through bokashi would render the atmospheric stillness of a winter afternoon. This print is among the rarer landscape works in his catalogue; its existence alongside the Mt. Ibuki snow prints suggests sustained interest in winter as a pictorial subject during his final working year.