Pagoda of Ninnaji Temple in Snow — 御室雪塔 おむろせっとう

A second print carrying the 御室雪塔 (Omuro Setto) title indicates that Ito Nisaburo issued at least two formally titled versions of this snow-pagoda composition, distinguished perhaps by season of printing, edition size, or compositional variation. Both would have been printed from separate sets of carved blocks, meaning that even closely related compositions required a full investment in block preparation — typically twelve to twenty blocks for a work of this complexity. This version may differ from its counterpart in the treatment of the sky — shifting from a near-white ground to a deeper dusk-blue bokashi — or in the foreground elements framing the pagoda. The five-story structure's rooflines, each bearing a distinct load of snow, establish a vertical rhythm that Ito modulated across the series through adjustments in viewpoint and atmospheric condition. Taken together, the multiple Ninnaji pagoda prints constitute a sustained formal inquiry into how a single architectural monument changes in character under different conditions of light, snowfall density, and seasonal progression — a serial approach consistent with the broader ambitions of shin-hanga landscape practice.