Okama, literally the cooking pot, is the crater lake nestled in Zao's summit caldera, its waters held at an emerald-green by sulphur and iron compounds dissolved in the volcanic spring inflow. The Japanese title's kako specifies this crater origin. Maeda would have faced a compositional problem any printmaker tackling Okama confronts: a circular bowl viewed from a steep ridge, with the green water set against russet pumice slopes that bleed into one another without firm contour. The mokuhanga medium suits the subject, since flat color planes can isolate the water's saturation against the mineral browns and greys of the crater walls. As with Maeda's other Zao designs, this print sits in his [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) register: a single artistic intelligence behind drawing, carving, and printing rather than the publisher-coordinated workshop chain typical of [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) views of the same locations.
Nikko Chuzenjiko
1930
Color woodblock print; oban
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Niigata Gosaibori
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Zao Kako lake was created by Maeda Masao (前田政雄).
Zao Kako lake depicts rivers & lakes.
