Katata no rakugan (Geese Descending at Katata), from Eight Views of Omi Province

Early in his career, Hiroshige designed a fine series of eight landscape prints depicting "Eight Views of Omi" (now in the Shiga Prefecture), the scenic area around Lake Biwa.  The subject is a Japanese adaptation of the Chinese theme of "Eight Views of the Hsiao and Hsiang [Rivers]" (J: Shosho hakkei; C: Xiao Xiang bajing).  The theme of "Eight Views of Omi" has a strong literary basis, and is likely to have been formulated first in a series of poems before it became a subject of paintings.  A poem is beautifully written in the upper left-hand corner of this print. As translated by Louis V. Ledoux (1880-1948), a former owner of the print, the verse may be rendered:  "Lured from their flight over many peaks toward far-off Koshiji, the wild geese are alighting at nearby Katata." The composition takes full advantage of the illusion of depth achieved by the diagonal movement of the boats and the converging descent of the geese. Color printing is expertly controlled, especially in the clouds and the ghostly forms of trees along the distant shore.