Chikara-mochi cakes at Miidera Temple

Mii-dera (Onjo-ji), a Tendai temple on the western shore of Lake Biwa near Otsu, was associated with chikara-mochi — pounded rice cakes whose name (strength mochi) referred to the vigor believed to be imparted by their consumption. They were sold at teahouses adjoining the temple precincts. Nakazawa's print likely shows a teahouse scene with figures and mochi displayed in the foreground, integrating genre observation with temple architecture. This kind of picturesque travel subject was central to the [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) tradition that [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) and [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) artists revived in the 1920s and 1930s, when domestic tourism expanded and prints catering to nostalgia for the Kansai region found a market. Nakazawa's contribution diverges from the more decorative shin-hanga approach in its painterly handling: forms are softened by [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations rather than defined by crisp outline, and the atmosphere recalls the watercolor sketches he produced throughout his parallel career as an oil painter exhibiting at government salons.