Landscape of Mt. Kuriko

On the horizontal canvas, the slopes of a tree-covered mountain overlap from left to right. A large peak at the left, a small protrusion at the center, and a gentle ridge at the back right are painted with fine strokes of dark green and brown, and white rock face shows at the right. White mist rises from the valley in the foreground, and the sky is covered with gray clouds. No people or road are painted, and the mass of the mountain and damp air fill the picture.

The title's "Sekiji" means "scenery of old times." In 1881 (Meiji 14) the Kuriko Mountain Tunnel, a new road connecting Fukushima and Yamagata, was completed at Mount Kuriko. According to the National Diet Library's commentary, Yuichi visited Yamagata that year at the request of Mishima Michitsune, governor of Yamagata Prefecture, and painted the tunnel in oil. This work is said to show the mountain before it was changed by the construction.

The Kuriko Mountain Tunnel was about 864 meters long and was the longest tunnel in Japan when it was completed. In October 1881 Emperor Meiji, touring Tohoku, walked through it, and the new road was given the name "Bansei Taido."

Yuichi was a Western-style painter known for "Salmon," and he left many works recording new roads and bridges in Tohoku. This work is owned by the Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art.