Asama Shrine (Mt.Fuji)

The print depicts Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha at Fujinomiya, the head shrine of the network of roughly 1,300 Sengen and Asama shrines across Japan, all dedicated to Konohanasakuya-hime, the deity of Mount Fuji. The composition almost certainly aligns the shrine's vermillion gate or main hall in the foreground with the snow-capped cone of Fuji rising in the background, framing the religious structure against the mountain it venerates. Tokuriki was closely associated with Fuji subjects, producing extended series of the mountain seen in different seasons, weathers, and from different vantage points. The print typically relies on a [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradient from the snow line down the slopes of Fuji, set against the saturated red lacquer pigment of the shrine architecture and surrounding pine. The work links his temple-and-shrine vein to his Fuji vein, two of the central currents in his postwar output and a pairing that places worship and landscape on a single sheet.