Byodo-in Lakeside

Byodo-in is the eleventh-century temple complex in Uji, south of Kyoto, whose Phoenix Hall (Hōō-dō) sits on an island in a reflecting pond. Hiratsuka's print likely renders the hall's symmetrical roofline and the surrounding water in monochromatic woodcut, using dense blacks for the temple's silhouette and bare [washi](/glossary/washi) for the pond's surface. Buddhist architecture was a recurring concern for Hiratsuka throughout his career, alongside Shinto shrines and other religious sites that he documented across Japan in hundreds of prints. As a [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) artist, he cut and pulled the block himself, treating the gouge marks left by the chisel as visible elements of the image rather than concealing them. The waterside vantage places Byodo-in within its characteristic landscape setting, where the Phoenix Hall's reflection in the pond doubles its architectural presence — a feature long associated with the temple in poetry and pictorial representation.