Kyoto Higashiyama - 京・東山

Kyoto Higashiyama depicts the eastern hill district of Kyoto, one of the most culturally dense neighborhoods in Japan. Higashiyama stretches along the eastern mountain slopes and contains an extraordinary concentration of temples, shrines, and historic streets, including Kiyomizu-dera, Ginkaku-ji, and the stone-paved Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka lanes. Ido Masao renders this district in the oban woodblock format, capturing the layered landscape where temple roofs emerge from forested hillsides above the city's tiled residential rooftops. The Japanese characters in the title ground the image in this specific geography. Ido's Kyoto prints consistently seek the views where architecture and nature interpenetrate most completely, and Higashiyama, where temples are built into hillsides and temple gardens blend into the surrounding forest, offers this quality in abundance.