Japanese Woodblock Print, 1930, later Heisei edition printed from the original first edition wood blocks.This print was published by Shoichiro Watanabe to be inserted into the catalog for the Hasui retrospective show catalog at the Folk Museum, Tokyo, 1990.

SIZE IN INCHES: koban, 5.75 x 8.5 inches

ALTHOUGH HASUI HAS BEEN WIDELY PRAISED for his masterful compositions of Japan's red temples and snow scenes, perhaps his finest depictions are of night time scenes usually under a full moon. These subtle prints like the one shown here, are clear evidence of why Hasui was named a Japanese national living treasure in 1953. Click on the thumbnail below to see an enlargement.

KAWASE HASUI (1883-1957) was a Japanese woodblock print maker in the early 20th century. He and Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950) are widely regarded as two of the greatest artists of the shin hanga style, and are known especially for their excellent landscape prints. During the forty years of his artistic career, Hasui worked closely with Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962), publisher and advocate of the shin hanga movement. His works became widely known in the West through American connoisseur Robert O. Muller (1911-2003). In 1956, he was named a Living National Treasure in Japan.

Hasui worked almost exclusively on landscape and townscape prints based on sketches he made in Tokyo and during travels around Japan. However, his prints are not merely meisho (famous places) prints that are typical of earlier ukiyo-e masters such as Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). The prints of Hasui feature locale that are tranquil and obscure in the then-urbanizing Japan. The dreamlike quality in his designs epitomizes a yearning for the past and a preservation of the past in the midst of rapid modernization.

Fine, no flaws