Gassan Yudonosan

The title refers to Mount Gassan and Mount Yudono, two of the three sacred peaks of the Dewa Sanzan in Yamagata Prefecture, the third being Mount Haguro. For more than a millennium these mountains have been a focal point of Shugendo, the syncretic mountain-ascetic tradition combining esoteric Buddhism, Shinto, and folk practice. Yudonosan is associated with initiatory rites and a tradition of secrecy: pilgrims are forbidden to describe what they encounter at its inner shrine. Sekino's treatment likely emphasizes the mass and silhouette of the peaks rather than narrative detail, aligning with his mature landscape manner of broad planes of color delineated by decisive outline, with bokashi gradations applied with the baren to evoke mist, snow, or atmospheric recession. The subject reflects his sustained engagement with the spiritual landscape of northern Honshu, the region of his birth in Aomori, which informed much of his work outside the Tokaido series.