Mt. Fuji from the Kannon Temple in Matsuda

Matsuda, a town in the Ashigara district of Kanagawa prefecture at the foot of the Hakone mountains, sits on the eastern approach to Fuji. A Kannon temple at this elevation provides the elevated vantage from which Fuji would appear above the surrounding hills and valley. The print likely composes Fuji through framing devices of temple architecture — perhaps a tile-roofed gate, a stone lantern, the eaves of the main hall — with the mountain set in the middle or upper distance. This religious-landscape pairing recurs in [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e), where a sacred building both authorizes the viewing point and adds narrative weight to the scene. Mokuhanga technique here would emphasize the contrast between the solid black of the temple's roof tiles, achieved through a dense [sumi](/glossary/sumi) key block, and the soft [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) of the sky behind Fuji. As part of Kaiseki's 25 Views of Fuji in the Four Seasons, this view contributes the religious-architectural register to a series that otherwise covers rivers, bridges, and rural settlements.