Harbor View with Flying Zeppelin 

The commemorative Indian Water Tower visible at the lower left edge of this painting locates it at Yamashita Park facing towards Yokohama Port. Having lived in Yokohama for 40 years, Kokuryo Tsunero would have known the park well. However, this bird’s-eye view differs slightly from reality, and so is part the product of the artist’s imagination. Kokuryo, who often used sand dune backdrops to create imaginary landscapes, was skillful at composing his images. Here the sea and cloudy sky are of similar shades and both appear softly illuminated, even though it is not sunny. The foreground and background, extent of the sea, position of the airship, and the carefully calculated arrangement of objects and colors give the painting a sense of generous expansiveness. It’s not difficult to imagine that you too are blithely and comfortably floating behind the airship in this wide-open sky.
(YATSUYANAGI Sae)