Suruga Province: The Pine Grove at Miho

From the lower right of the picture, the Miho sandspit thick with pines extends like a bow toward the left, its white waterline outlining the inside of the bay. White-sailed ships dot the bay, and three more huddle together at lower left. In the middle ground, a dark range of mountains stretches horizontally.

Above the mountains Fuji rises large, a band of cloud around its waist. The mountain's color is graded from gray to brown at its foot, and yellow clouds trail across the sky. The composition layers the green of the pines in front, the blue of the bay, the black of the mountains, and the pale color of Fuji like bands.

Miho no Matsubara is the site of the hagoromo legend, in which a heavenly maiden hung her feather robe on a pine branch, and as a seashore with a view of Fuji it has long been depicted in waka and pictures. Close to the Ejiri and Okitsu stations of the Tokaido, it was a famous place travelers went out of their way to visit. Fitting Fuji and the pine grove into one picture was a standard composition when depicting this place.

The National Diet Library's impression is a version with a somewhat smaller Fuji and different color and shape in the mountain range. It is thought that the blocks and color instructions for the distant view were changed as printing was repeated. The Tokyo National Museum's impression has the same composition as this one.