Shiofune Kannon

Shiofune Kannon-ji, in Oume on the western edge of Tokyo, is a Shingon temple of considerable antiquity whose name—'salt boat'—refers to the bowl-shaped valley in which the precincts sit. The temple is widely known for its terraced hillsides of azaleas that bloom in late spring, and it is plausible that Morimura's print captures the main hall or shrine framed by these massed flowering shrubs. His treatment of religious architecture characteristically uses tightly carved lines for tile ridges, eaves, and lattice screens, set against broad fields of color for the surrounding foliage. The contrast between the disciplined geometry of the temple and the organic rhythm of the azalea slopes typifies his compositional method, in which built and planted forms are made to converse on the same flat picture plane. Among his Religious subjects, Shiofune Kannon belongs to the category of working temples set in identifiable seasonal landscape, distinct from the more austere Zen garden views elsewhere in his oeuvre.