Snowy Night in Kyoto

This nocturne presents a snow-covered Kyoto street or temple precinct under night conditions, a combination that called on the printmaker's full tonal range. Snow scenes in mokuhanga rely on the unprinted [washi](/glossary/washi) ground to register accumulated snow on roofs, walls, and ground, with the surrounding darkness built up through deeply inked black blocks and [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation to convey a sky lit only by reflected snowlight. Punctuating warm lights — perhaps from a lantern, a lit window, or the glow at a temple gate — would be registered in small areas of yellow or orange to anchor the composition. Tokuriki produced numerous Kyoto views across the four seasons, and his winter and night subjects allowed for compositional restraint that contrasts with his more saturated summer temple scenes. The print continues a long [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) tradition of Kyoto night and snow imagery, reaching back through Hiroshige and forward through [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) masters such as Hasui, while Tokuriki's handling reflects his [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) sensibility favoring mood and place over narrative incident.