Tateyama Betsuzan, from the series "Twelve Scenes of Japanese Alps"

From the Twelve Scenes of Japanese Alps series, this 1926 print depicts Tateyama Betsuzan — a satellite peak or sub-ridge of the Tateyama massif in Toyama Prefecture, one of Japan's three sacred mountains — as part of Yoshida's systematic documentation of the Northern Alps during his most productive Alpine year. The Tateyama range, which includes peaks above three thousand meters and carries snow year-round on its north-facing slopes, provided Yoshida with some of his most dramatically lit mountain subjects: the stark contrast between snow and exposed rock, the way cloud formations gather at altitude, and the particular quality of high mountain air that gives distant peaks an almost hallucinatory clarity. This companion peak to the main Tateyama summit gave him the opportunity to explore the range's geological complexity beyond its central landmark.