Hiunkaku, the "flying cloud pavilion" at Nishi Honganji in Kyoto, is one of the city's hidden architectural treasures, and Asano's snow-draped version captures its distinctive multi-story silhouette. This relatively uncommon subject typically commands $200-$500. The pavilion's unusual profile under winter snow makes for a memorable and somewhat scarce composition.
Snow in Hiunkaku, dated to the early 1950s, presents the celebrated three-story pavilion at Nishi Hongan-ji Temple in Kyoto — one of the three great tea-ceremony structures of the Momoyama period — in winter snowfall. The Hiunkaku (Cloud-soaring Tower) was among the most refined and elegant of Kyoto's architectural treasures, its combination of shoin and sukiya architectural styles creating a building of extraordinary delicacy. In snow, its elaborate decorative details were softened into pure form, the seasonal transformation revealing the building's essential structural character.
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 in Hiunkaku (飛雲閣雪) was created by Takeji Asano (浅野竹二) in ca. 1950s.
Snow in Hiunkaku uses Bokashi, Nishiki-e, and Moku-hanga, on woodblock print.
Snow in Hiunkaku was published by Unsodo (ca. 1950s).
Snow in Hiunkaku depicts snow scenes.
