The Sagami River (Sagamigawa)

Catalog note / 解説

Sagami is located in present-day Kanagawa prefecture. This print depicts two men on rafts and white herons in flight (one of which has just been startled out of its hiding place in the reeds), while a snow-capped Mount Fuji stands serenely in the distance. The composition is built up of eight consecutive planes, starting with the white heron to the front, and ending with Mount Fuji on the last visual plane at the far back. This device creates a sense of depth in the composition without using Western linear perspective and a corresponding single vantage point. Hiroshige also suggests depth by exaggerating the size of the objects in the foreground. “Hokusai’s Summit: Thirty-six Views of Mount…