Itamuro

Itamuro is a small onsen village in Tochigi Prefecture, tucked into the foothills of the Nasu mountain range. Maekawa traveled to provincial hot-spring towns and recorded these places in a sketch-like, on-the-spot manner rather than as set-piece scenic views. The image likely shows wooden inns, a narrow lane, the surrounding mountains, and perhaps figures connected to bathhouse life. Compositions of this type rely on heavy black outlines cut in plank wood, flat color fills, and minimal perspectival depth — closer in feeling to a woodblock travel sketch than to the panoramic [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) of nineteenth-century artists. Maekawa's onsen prints belong to a body of work documenting small communities he visited personally, sharing the ethos of fellow [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) members such as Hiratsuka Un'ichi and Azechi Umetaro, who similarly recorded specific provincial places. The result conveys the modesty of village life and the local character of Itamuro rather than scenic grandeur.