Reflection in Lake Kawaguchi from Misaka Pass in Kai Province

Fuji, rising on the far shore of the lake, shows a reddish-brown mountainside with almost no snow on its summit. Yet the reflection on the lake is white, drawn as a snow-capped mountain. Moreover, the reflection is placed not directly beneath the mountain but shifted to the left. Fine lines indicating ravines are drawn sparingly on Fuji's slopes.

Of this device, in which the real mountain and the reflected mountain are drawn differently in season and position, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum says the scene is a fictional landscape that could never exist in reality. The reflection is expressed only with a pale plane of color, and by leaving the outline undefined, it conveys a water surface as still as a mirror.

The "Misaka" of the title means Misaka Pass, and the museum takes this print to be a view of Lake Kawaguchi and Fuji from Misaka. On the lakeshore, thatched houses huddle close together, and a single small boat floats on the lake. Lake Kawaguchi is also known for the scene in which Fuji is reflected upside down in its surface. The lake surface, which fills the lower half of the picture, is a flat, undrawn color that makes the reflected Fuji all the more striking.