Dewa sanzan

Dewa Sanzan — the Three Mountains of Dewa (Haguro-san, Gas-san, Yudono-san) in Yamagata Prefecture — is the principal pilgrimage site of Shugendō mountain asceticism. Morimura's treatment likely centers on the cedar-lined stone path of Haguro-san, with its five-story pagoda set among ancient sugi trees, or surveys a vista across the higher peaks. His handling of pilgrimage routes stacks the stone steps as horizontal registers ascending the picture, with the columnar trunks of the cedars rising as parallel verticals — a composition well suited to woodblock geometry. Flat planes of forest green and stone grey carry the mass, while bokashi gradients establish atmosphere within the canopy and the keyblock articulates the pagoda's eaves and bracketing. The subject extends his coverage of major sacred sites beyond Kyoto and Nara into the Tōhoku northeast, and connects his work to the broader meisho-e tradition of 'famous places' prints carried forward by Hokusai and Hiroshige and renewed within the contemporary mokuhanga movement.