Zojoji Temple in the snow

Zojoji, the Tokugawa family's principal Tokyo temple in the Shiba district, appears here under heavy snowfall — a subject Koitsu returned to repeatedly during the 1930s. The composition likely centers on the temple's vermillion Sangedatsumon gate or main hall, with snow accumulating on the deep tiled eaves and stone lanterns set against a leaden sky. The print would have employed graduated [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) printing across the upper register to suggest the muted winter atmosphere, while flecks of unprinted [washi](/glossary/washi) serve as falling snowflakes, a technique inherited from Koitsu's teacher Kobayashi Kiyochika. The contrast between the saturated red of the temple architecture and the pale snowfall exemplifies the chromatic restraint typical of the artist's mature [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) work, published primarily through Doi Hangaten. Snow at Zojoji had been treated earlier by Hiroshige and contemporaneously by Kawase Hasui, placing Koitsu's interpretation within a recognized lineage of [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) while distinguishing it through the softer, more atmospheric registration that defined the shin-hanga revival.