Mount Hodaka (Hodakayama)

Throughout his career, Yoshida Hiroshi explored different media, from watercolor to oil painting to prints, but landscapes remained an enduring interest. In the 1920s Hiroshi spent two months almost every summer climbing the Japanese Alps, and during these trips he would make sketches for prints to be produced in the coming fall and winter. Hodakayama, or Mount Hodaka, pictured here, was one of Hiroshi’s favorite mountains, so much so that he named his younger son Hodaka. According to the well-traveled Hiroshi, the beauty of Mount Hodaka equaled that of the European Alps.