Kamikochi (Nagano)

This print depicts Kamikochi, the celebrated alpine valley in the Hida Mountains of Nagano Prefecture, a site long favored by landscape artists for its dramatic scenery of the Azusa River, birch forests, and the jagged peaks of the Hotaka range. Sekino's sosaku-hanga approach likely brings a personal compositional freedom to the subject, using multiple woodblocks to render the layered tones of mountain atmosphere — pale sky graduated through bokashi, dense conifer masses in deeper greens, and the translucent cold light characteristic of high-altitude settings. The valley's flat marshland and still reflective waters would invite careful registration across blocks, with washi absorbing subtle color differentials. Kamikochi was designated a national park site, and its appearance in Sekino's work connects his landscape output to the broader meisho-e tradition while asserting his distinctly modern, expressive handling of natural terrain.