Mt Ontake, Kiso

Mount Ontake, the sacred volcano on the border of Nagano and Gifu, is the second-highest mountain in Japan after Fuji and a long-established pilgrimage site for the Ontake-kyo sect. Ito's print places the peak within the Kiso valley, a region celebrated since the Edo period for its forested gorge and post-towns along the Nakasendo. The composition likely sets Ontake's broad volcanic massif against a foreground of cedar slopes, river, or village rooftops, with the mountain's snow-streaked summit reserved as unprinted washi while the body is built up in indigo and grey washes. As with much of Ito's mountain work, the appeal lies less in dramatic incident than in the careful balance of near and far and the bokashi gradations that carry the eye from foreground green to distant blue. The subject extends Ito's interest in inland mountain scenery beyond the more frequently depicted Fuji, aligning him with shin-hanga peers such as Hasui and Yoshida who similarly mapped the Japanese alps for the print-buying public.