Lake Biwa

A boat with two silhouetted figures floats beneath the sweeping boughs of a large pine tree at the water's edge; one figure stands poling the craft while the other sits facing forward, a lit paper lantern glowing beside them on the boat's deck. Rendered entirely in monochrome sepia tones, the scene shows a misty lake with a pier and pavilion-roofed structure emerging faintly from the fog on the far shore, with low hills visible at right. Koho Shoda's 1915 chuban woodblock print "Lake Biwa," from the Night Scenes series, captures the quiet, hazy atmosphere of dusk or night on the water.