At the Foot of Shirane

The snow-covered peaks of Shirane haunt Ōshita Tōjirō’s imagination long before he can approach them with his paints. In November 1909, the watercolor artist travels into the valleys of the southern Japanese Alps, seeking the mountain forms and changing colors that glimpses from a train have promised.

Rain, mist, aching legs, and dangerous paths repeatedly alter his plans. He stays at modest hot-spring inns, spends a night in a precarious mountain hut, listens to hunters’ stories, and discovers unexpected subjects in larches, village streams, and a talkative child. The journey records both an artist’s eye and the practical lives surrounding it.

First published in Mizue in 1910, this travel essay ends with a thoughtful account of why landscapes seen from moving trains appear so well composed. This complete English translation includes notes on historical place names, traditional measures, literary references, local speech, and preserved source irregularities. AI-assisted translation.