Snow at Shiga Hights
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
$300–$2,500. Snow and night scenes tend to command premium prices for this artist. Key value factors: Okumura's atmospheric landscape prints are modestly priced. Mountain and lake scenes are most sought after.
Shiga Heights, a highland plateau in Nagano Prefecture, sits at elevations above 1,500 meters and receives heavy snowfall throughout the winter months. This woodblock print depicts the highlands under deep snow, where drifts reshape the terrain into smooth, undulating forms and isolated trees emerge as dark verticals against the white expanse. The high-altitude setting gives Koichi a subject quite different from his Kyoto temple views, replacing architectural detail with the stark geometry of a snowbound landscape. Shiga Heights later gained international recognition as a venue for the 1998 Winter Olympics, but at the time of this print it was known primarily as a ski resort and hot spring destination. The composition likely emphasizes the vast, open quality of the plateau, where snowfields stretch to distant mountain ridgelines under a heavy winter sky.
Woodblock print
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Yuki no Miyajima
1929
Color woodblock print; oban
1932
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Snow at Shiga Hights was created by Okumura Koichi (奥村厚一).
Snow at Shiga Hights depicts snow scenes.
