ASAHI DAKE (旭岳) BY TOSHI YOSHIDA

TOSHI YOSHIDA (1911-1995)  

Asahi Dake (旭岳) (2,291m- 7,516ft) 

Japan 

In Mount Asahi, Daisetsuzan, 1984  woodblock print, 1984

The mountain 
Asahi Dake (2,291m- 7,516ft) , in Japanese 旭岳, is a mountain located in the town of Higashikawa, Hokkaido and the tallest mountain in the Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is part of the Daisetsuzan Volcanic Group of the Ishikari Mountains, it is located in the northern part of the Daisetsuzan National Park. The mountain is popular with hikers in the summer and can be easily reached from Asahidake Onsen via Asahidake Ropeway. During winter, the mountain is open for use by skiers and snowboarders. Sugatami Pond, directly below the peak, is famous for its reflection of the peaks, snow, and steam escaping from the volcanic vents.
Mount Asahi is an active stratovolcano that arose 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southwest of the Ohachi-Daira caldera. The Japan Meteorological Agency gave the region rank C in volcanic activity. In addition to the main peak, there is a smaller volcano emerging from the southeast shoulder of the mountain, Mount Ushiro Asahi or Rear Mount Asahi (後旭岳).
Asahi Dake  is a stratovolcano consisting mainly of andesite and dacite, Holocene volcanic non-alkali mafic rock less than 18,000 years old.
There is no historical record of the eruptions of Mount Asahi.
- 3200 BC ± 75 years, Asahi Soria deposit, corrected radiocarbon dating, explosive eruption
- 2800 BC ± 100 years, As-A tephra, corrected radiocarbon dating,explosive eruption and phreatic explosions
- 1450 BC ± 50 years, As-B tephra, uncorrected radiocarbon dating, explosive eruption and phreatic explosions
- 500 BC ± 50 years, Ash-b tephra, tephrochonology, explosive eruption and phreatic explosions and debris avalanches
- 1739, tephrochronology, explosive eruption and phreatic explosions with possible eruption of the central vent and radial good
Mount Asahi currently exhibits steam activity in the form of fumaroles.

The artist 
Tōshi Yoshida (吉田 遠志), was a Japanese printmaking artist associated with the sōsaku-hanga movement, and son of famous shin-hanga artist Hiroshi Yoshida. One of Yoshida's legs was paralysed during his early childhood. Not being able to attend school, he enjoyed watching animals and his father's printmaking workshop. Encouraged by his grandmother Rui Yoshida, Tōshi often sketched animals. Yoshida's artistic career was a long struggle between fidelity to his father's legacy and freedom from it. Hiroshi Yoshida, a shin-hanga landscape artist, dictated Tōshi's early artistic development. In 1926, Tōshi chose animals as his primary subjects to distinguish himself from his father, who was a landscape printmaker. However, in the 1930s, Tōshi started making landscape paintings and prints similar to his father's works. Father and son traveled together and even painted side by side. From 1930 to 1931, Hiroshi and Tōshi traveled to India, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Calcutta, and Burma.
- More about Toshi Yoshida