Ishiyama Temple

Ishiyama Temple depicts Ishiyama-dera, the Shingon temple in Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture, founded in 747 and built atop the wollastonite outcrop from which it takes its name. The site is associated with Murasaki Shikibu, who is said to have begun the Tale of Genji while in retreat there during a full moon, and the moon over Ishiyama is one of the canonical Eight Views of Ōmi. Toshi Yoshida's treatment most likely centers on the tahōtō pagoda — the oldest of its type in Japan — or the main hall set against the boulder formation, with surrounding maples or pines providing seasonal coloration. Mokuhanga renders the temple's wooden structures through key-block linework and color impressions for the cinnabar of railings, the cedar shingles, and the stone of the founding outcrop, with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations softening the recession of trees. The print belongs to Toshi's [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) of Japanese religious sites, a representational mode he sustained throughout his career and inherited directly from his father Hiroshi's landscape practice.