Mount Fuji from Lake Shoji
by Kawase Hasui
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Legion of Honor
- Image courtesy of
- Legion of Honor
Description
Lake Shoji, the smallest of the Fuji Five Lakes and the most secluded, provides one of the mountain's most dramatic reflected vistas, with minimal development along its forested shores. Hasui's composition from this vantage likely exploits the near-perfect mirror the lake's still surface offers at dawn or dusk, doubling Fuji's silhouette in the water below. The dense cryptomeria and pine that ring Lake Shoji often appear in dark foreground silhouette, pushing the mountain into deep middle distance and emphasizing its isolation. Bokashi gradations in the sky—moving from pale rose or orange at the horizon through deepening blue—were a hallmark technique Hasui employed to capture the transient light conditions that give lakeside Fuji views their distinctively atmospheric quality.
More Prints by Kawase Hasui
More Landscapes Prints
Lake Kugushi in Wakasa Province (Wakasa Kugushiko), from the series Souvenirs of Travel I (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Autumn Maple Leaves at Takao, from the album Eight Views of Kyoto (Kyôto hakkei)
Woodblock print
The Beach at Kaiganji in Sanuki Province (Sanuki Kaiganji no hama), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)"
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
Tea Kettle, section of a sheet from the series "Mirror of Stone Rubbings of Views of the Provinces" (Kohon meihitsu ishizuri kagami)
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Mount Fuji from Lake Shoji was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水).
Mount Fuji from Lake Shoji depicts landscapes.