About This Print

The artist presents us with a quiet courtyard in Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei in Ōtsu, overlooking Kyoto.

According to the artist, the print was "made on behalf of Japan's Postal Services, who used the design to decorate a corner of a letter writing pad they sell. It is a fairly common practice in Japan and my father [Sekino Jun’ichirō (1914-1988)] did it often as well."¹

Enryaku Temple on Mt. Hiei

Enryaku-ji Temple, a Unesco World Heritage site, is a complex with more than 200 halls, pagodas and other buildings atop Mt. Hiei, at an elevation of about 2,600 feet. Founded in 788 by Saicho, the priest who founded the Tendai school of Buddhism, it was established to protect Kyoto from demons traveling from the northeast and was the center of Buddhism in Japan for 800 years. At its height the temple contained 3,000 buildings, ruling monks more powerful than the Imperial family and warrior monks that supported them. 

¹ email dated 9/3/2021 in response to my questions kindly passed on to Yowsaku by his brother Junpei.

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#2096
Title	Enryaku Temple on Mt. Hiei  (note: title has kindly been confirmed by the artist)
Series	none
Artist	Sekino Yowsaku (b. 1944)
Signature	Yowsaku Sekino 96
Seal	no seal
Publication Date	1996
Edition	16/139
Publisher	self-published note: while the design was "made on behalf of Japan's Postal Services" which in 1996, when this print was created, was officially known as the Postal Services Agency 郵政事業庁 Yusei Jigyocho, I am guessing that the woodblock prints from the design were published by the artist (self-published).
Carver	self-carved
Printer	self-printed
Impression	excellent
Colors	excellent
Condition	excellent
Genre	sosaku hanga (creative print)
Miscellaneous
Format
H x W Paper	13 x 10 15/16 in. (33 x 27.8 cm)
H x W Image	8 1/4 x 8 3/16 in. (21 x 20.8 cm)
Collections This Print
Reference Literature

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