Toshogu Shrine

A view of a shrine dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu — either the Ueno Toshogu within Tokyo or the larger Nikko Toshogu mausoleum complex. Toshogu shrines are characterized by elaborately carved and gilded architecture in the gongen-zukuri style, and the print would foreground that decorative ornament against the surrounding cryptomeria or shrine grounds. The print follows Koizumi's practice of cutting and printing every block himself in the sosaku-hanga manner, while drawing subject matter — historic shrines and temples — from the meisho-e tradition that shin-hanga artists such as Kawase Hasui and Hiroshi Yoshida also worked. Bokashi gradations would shape the foliage and sky, while restrained color planes describe the lacquered architectural surfaces. The choice of subject reflects Koizumi's documentary impulse, recording surviving Edo-period religious institutions alongside the modern infrastructure that fills his other prints.