Nara Kofukuji Temple

Kofukuji is one of the most prominent temple complexes in Nara, founded in the seventh century and home to two famous pagodas, including the five-story tower that rises above Sarusawa Pond as one of the most recognized silhouettes in Japanese architecture. Hasui's composition likely presents the pagoda from across the pond or from within the temple precincts, possibly under an autumn or winter sky that emphasizes the tower's vertical form against a pale background. The five-story pagoda—its stacked, tapering rooflines built without nails using traditional miyadaiku joinery—provided Hasui with a subject that combined precise architectural form with the soft surrounding landscape of Nara Park. In the shin-hanga print, the fine contour lines describing the pagoda's eaves and bracketing would have been cut with great precision into the cherry-wood keyblock, printed first to establish composition before successive color blocks were applied.