Autumn in Nara (Muro ji)

Muro-ji is a Shingon Buddhist temple in the mountains of Nara Prefecture, founded in the late eighth century and known for its five-story pagoda — among the smallest of Japan's surviving early pagodas — set within a forested valley that turns vivid red and gold when momiji and ginkgo color in November. Ohtsu's print likely focuses on the pagoda or a path approaching it, framed by surrounding foliage. Muro-ji is a more ambitious subject than the unnamed villages that occupy most of Ohtsu's catalogue, placing this work within the [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) tradition of celebrated-place views. The careful registration required for the pagoda's stacked roofs and the [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) work needed for distant mountainside foliage suggest a technically demanding print. For collectors, this composition links Ohtsu to a wider lineage of twentieth-century artists who recorded Nara's temples in [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) and [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) modes, while remaining within his characteristic warm, domestic palette.