By the Side of the Temple
Mortimer Menpes
1901
Watercolour
Source: Japan, A Record in Colour, facing p. 86
This could be anywhere in Japan: it is a hilly country, and the shrine or temple would generally be high up somewhere, with many steps to climb. The setting, Menpes believed, was never accidental: "I can safely say there is no point in Japan where an artist cannot stand still and frame between his hands a picture that will be perfect in placing and design" (85). — Jacqueline Banerjee