Lake Okotanpe

Lake Okotanpe is one of the three so-called mystery lakes of Hokkaido, a small caldera lake at the foot of Mount Eniwa whose surface color shifts dramatically with light and season, and whose remote setting in dense forest kept it largely outside the standard [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) itinerary. Maeda's choice of subject is characteristic: rather than the well-trodden views demanded by the [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) market, he turns to a place known intimately to Hokkaido residents but invisible to the southern Japanese print-buying public. The composition would typically organize itself around the encircling forest, the lake's saturated water color, and the volcanic ridge beyond, with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) handling the atmospheric transitions and a restrained color set keeping the image close to nature. The print extends the regionalist project visible in his Lake Toya cycle and asserts Hokkaido's volcanic and forested terrain as a legitimate subject for serious mokuhanga, rather than a marginal alternative to the canonical landscapes of Honshu.