Climbing Snow Valley at Harinoki
- Date:
- 1920
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Yoshida Studio
Snow scenes represent some of Yoshida's most technically challenging compositions, and collectors prize fine impressions of winter subjects for their nuanced color gradations. Snow views carry a consistent premium across his output; the combination of snow with mountain, temple, or Tokyo subjects compounds the premium further. Jizuri seals are especially important for snow scenes, as printing quality directly affects the rendering of the snow effects.
In 1920 Yoshida depicted the Harinoki Pass — one of the high-altitude crossings of the Ōmachi Range in the Northern Japanese Alps, rising above 2,541 meters — as a landscape of deep snow still covering the valley floor, climbers making their way up through the winter snowpack along a route that served as both a traditional pass and a mountaineering challenge. The composition captures the physical effort of alpine travel in deep snow: the path disappearing into white, the surrounding terrain defined more by what is buried than by what is visible, the sky above pressing down with the cold clarity that high altitude and winter produce together. This early Alpine print anticipates the extensive mountain series that would define his work in the mid-1920s.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Climbing Snow Valley at Harinoki was created by Hiroshi Yoshida (吉田博) in 1920.
Climbing Snow Valley at Harinoki was published by Yoshida Studio (1920).
Climbing Snow Valley at Harinoki depicts landscapes and snow scenes.
