Entrance to the Engaku-ji Temple, Kamakura

Description

The current scene is depicted from the front of Engaku-ji Temple in Kamakura. Engaku-ji is a Buddhist temple complex, founded in 1282. It was built after the Japanese had successfully countered the attacks by Mongolian forces in the 13th century, honoring those who died. In the print, only the front of the Engaku-ji Temple complex is visible, but it is elaborate and contains many buildings and is an important temple for Zen Buddhism to this day. Kasamatsu Shiro created quite a few prints that focused on one color and its variants, and the current one does so too. The front of Engaku-ji Temple is surrounded by trees and bushes, which makes the many green colors a realistic part of the scene. It is said that Shin hanga artists were often seeking to capture the mood of a scene they depicted and, if so, Kasamatsu Shiro clearly succeeded with the serenity and calmness of the current print.