Hakone

Continuing his exploration of the Hakone pass, Sekino in this third variant likely altered the color register or the relative scale of compositional elements. The sosaku-hanga movement to which he belonged rejected the strict editioning conventions of commercial ukiyo-e, treating each printing session as an opportunity for further refinement; many of his prints exist in several distinct states, some within the formal edition and some as artist's proofs. Hakone's terrain — the wooded slopes, the lake's mirror, the silhouetted ridge — gave him a stable subject against which to test these variations. Compositions in this series tend to flatten depth, replacing Hiroshige's atmospheric perspective with overlapping planes of saturated color separated by a thin keyline. Bokashi remains selective, applied to a sky band or water surface where a smooth tonal transition is essential, while flat areas predominate elsewhere. The cumulative effect is closer to midcentury graphic design than to Edo-period meisho-e, while the underlying subject and technique remain firmly woodblock.