The Cushion Pine at Aoyama

The Enza Pine was an umbrella-shaped pine in a temple garden. A single pine is said to have spread its branches some three ken (about 5.6 meters), and visitors walked through the garden to view it. It was one of Edo's famous sights. At the bottom of the picture a row of props supporting the branches can be seen, along with a stone lantern and a small torii.

Katsushika Hokusai drew the pine like a semicircular hill, and made Fuji a large, sharp triangle beyond the haze. The combination of the round pine and the pointed Fuji, opposite in form, is the key to this print. Fuji is probably drawn larger than in reality, placed to balance the green of the pine spreading in the foreground. The dark green roundness of the pine is expressed in a fine pattern in which the clusters of foliage are drawn one by one.

The small figures are also worth noting. On the artificial hill at lower right, a party is sharing sake while gazing at the pine and Fuji. On the slope a father pulls a child up by a towel, and a passerby stops to take in the view. At lower left, only the feet of a person sweeping with a broom peep out from beneath the pine needles.