Details

In Fujiyama from Gotemba, Hiroshi Yoshida captures the iconic dignity of Mount Fuji with a balance of realism and reverence. Viewed from the plains of Gotemba, the mountain rises like a sculpted monument, its snowy cone sharply defined against a pale sky. Yoshida’s composition is deceptively simple: the overwhelming symmetry of the volcano is offset by the irregular rhythm of pine silhouettes in the foreground, which act like a visual murmur beneath Fuji’s immense silence.

The scene evokes the calm grandeur of early morning. There is no human presence here—just the slow drift of light, the crystalline clarity of winter air, and the subtle transitions of hue across snow and slope. The lightest tones of the sky blend seamlessly with the summit’s peak, suggesting not only altitude but spiritual transcendence. The effect is deeply meditative, a homage not to spectacle, but to presence.

Connoisseur's Note

This 1929 impression of Fujiyama from Gotemba belongs to Hiroshi Yoshida’s celebrated body of work on Mount Fuji, a subject that has long held a central place in Japanese art and spiritual imagination. Where earlier Ukiyo-e masters like Hokusai and Hiroshige often imbued Fuji with narrative or seasonal context, Yoshida isolates the mountain in a modern composition, offering it as an icon in and of itself. His use of linear clarity, naturalistic shadow, and delicate color gradation reflect both his Western training and his grounding in Japanese aesthetics.

This design, unlike many of Yoshida’s other works, was not issued with jizuri seal. Instead, it bears the artist’s pencil signature in the lower margin—a hallmark reserved for prints overseen directly by Yoshida and intended for the Western market. The presence of this hand-signed signature serves as an equally compelling guarantee of authenticity and personal involvement, affirming that the print was produced under the artist’s immediate supervision.