Kiyomizudera Temple

Kiyomizu-dera, the eighth-century Buddhist temple in eastern Kyoto, sits on a wooded hillside above the city, its main hall projecting from the slope on a platform of timber pillars. Sekino's treatment likely isolates a fragment of the temple complex—the vermilion three-storied pagoda, a section of the stage, or the timber understructure—rather than offering the panoramic view favored by tourist imagery. His sosaku-hanga method, in which the artist designs, carves, and prints each block himself, allowed careful registration of architectural detail alongside flat fields of color and bokashi shading on washi. Kiyomizu was a recurring subject in Sekino's Kyoto prints, part of a broader engagement with traditional religious sites that paralleled his portraits, his theater images, and his series along the Tokaido road.