Evening Rain at Karasaki, plate 4 from an untitled series of Eight Views of Ōmi

The theme Night Rain at Karasaki from the Eight Views of Ōmi often features a famous pine tree at Karasaki Shrine, on the western shore of Lake Biwa. In this print, we see the pine, stretching above the shrine’s torii gate and the small shrine building. The Karasaki pine was renowned for its enormous size and distinctive spreading branches. Here, the sharp diagonal lines indicate rainfall. A fisherman struggles with his boat to the right of the pine, while two other fishermen run to escape the rain, below. All three wear reed raincoats, or mino 蓑. These were practical, biodegradable, and could be made from readily available materials.

This is a rare early print, made before the technology of full-color printing was developed. The color here was added by hand.