The part of Kunashiri island close to Shiretoko island

A view across the Nemuro Strait toward Kunashiri, the southernmost of the four islands at the eastern edge of Hokkaidō that Japan continues to claim and that have been administered by Russia since 1945. From the Shiretoko Peninsula side, Kunashiri's volcanic profile rises across a narrow strip of cold water, a vantage Sekino would have reached via his extensive Hokkaidō travels. The print likely uses a low horizon, layered bokashi in sea and sky, and a near-monochrome palette suited to the northern light, with the cherry-block grain reading as cloud or wave texture. Sekino's interest in the geographical extremes of Japan — Aomori, Hokkaidō, the Inland Sea — extended the meisho-e tradition outward from the central, classical sites. The political resonance of the Northern Territories adds a further layer: by depicting Kunashiri from Shiretoko, the composition fixes a specifically postwar Japanese vantage point on a contested landscape.