Mountains in Izumo

A landscape print of mountains in Izumo, the western region of Shimane Prefecture where Hiratsuka was born and raised. The Izumo area, home to the Izumo Taisha shrine and dense in Shinto mythology, recurs throughout his work as a source of personal and cultural subject matter. The composition likely treats the mountain forms as massed silhouettes rendered in heavy black ink, with carved white lines describing ridgelines and slope contours rather than atmospheric gradation. This approach contrasts with the [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradient washes of [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) landscape printers like Kawase Hasui, who worked the same era but within a fundamentally different production model. Hiratsuka's [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) (famous-place pictures) emphasize the structural and tactile presence of the cut block over picturesque mood. His regional Izumo subjects represent one of several geographic series he produced over his long career, including extensive work on Buddhist temples, Korean architecture, and later American scenes after his 1962 relocation to Washington, D.C.