About This Print

One of three designs for a series of prints titled "Sights of Matsue." This print is titled "Distant View of Mt Fuji of Izumo" in the bottom margin. The print gives us a view of Mount Daisan, also called Izumo Fuji, from Matsue City, about 50 km west of the mountain.

The publisher's name 内田美術書肆納 (Uchida Fine Art Store) appears in the left margin and the print's two rectangular cartouches in the bottom right of the image are blank, indicating the print is a proof or trial print. In the published version of this print the two cartouches contain the following text: 松江日本画文化研究所版 Matsue Nihon ga bunka kenkyujo (Matsue Japanese Painting Culture Research Institute Edition) and 松江名所 出雲富士 Matsue meisho, Izumo Fuji embo (Sights of Matsue, Distant View of Izumo Fuji). For a comparison of this collection's trial print and the published print see below.

The other two extant prints from this series, shown below, are titled "Moonlight of Lake Shinti" (Lake Shishido) and "Scenery of Snon [sic] Castle of Matsue." All three prints are attributed to the artist Asada Benji 麻田辨次 (1900-1984), a Kyoto-based print artist and nihonga (Japanese style) painter who worked extensively with the publisher Uchida. 

While not dated, the English titles in the bottom margin, indicate these prints were a post-WWII issue, targeted at an American audience.

Matsue bills itself as "As an International City of Culture and Tourism. Matsue is a place visitors come to find Japanese culture as they’ve always dreamed of encountering it." - Source: Matsue City Official Travel Guide https://www.visit-matsue.com/more/culture [accessed 2-27-24]