Lake Hakone in Sagami Province

Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji often features working people and travelers, but no figures can be found in this print. Not a ripple disturbs the lake, and flat bands of mist lie across the scene. Between them, cedar groves shoot sharply upward, so that horizontal and vertical lines overlap in alternation. The water of the lake is painted in a single pale blue.

On the right shore, a blue-roofed building surrounded by cedars can be seen. The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum identifies it as Hakone Shrine, and the mountains on either side of Fuji as Mount Mikuni and Mount Komagatake. Fuji appears small, snow-white, among the ranges in the left background. Small islands and promontories interlock at the water's edge, and the complicated shape of the shoreline is rendered in flat planes of color.

Hakone Kosui refers to Lake Ashi. It is a mountain lake along the Tokaido's crossing of Hakone, and the Hakone checkpoint was also located on its shore. The palette, limited to green, blue, and pale yellow, conveys well the clear air and stillness high in the mountains. With all trace of people removed, the lines of the cedars and the shapes of the mist become the very subject of the picture.