Japanese Woodblock Print, 1930, later edition published by Shoichiro Watanabe from the partially recarved woodblocks

SIZE IN INCHES: oban 10.5 x 15.5 inches

COMMENTS: This Hasui print shows a lone traveler hauling a heavy basket on his back through a tall forest bordering the Nakasendo road near the town of Magome. Magome, a town in southwestern Nagano Prefecture, was a prosperous post town during the Edo period (1603-1868). Two roads linked Edo (present day Tokyo), the seat of the Shogunate, with Kyoto in those days. One was the Tokaido, which followed the coastline and had 53 way stations, and the other was the Nakasendo, which traced a route through the mountains and had 69 way stations. Magome was a post town on the Nakasendo.

The function of Magome and towns like it, which were located all around the country in the Edo period, was similar to the role of railway stations in a modern context. There were inns, and eating and drinking establishments as well as carriers and horses to transport travelers and official documents to the next station on the road. Travelers and merchants catering to travelers gathered here and the towns flourished as a result. With the development of railway and automobile transportation in the 20th century, most post towns lost their traditional function many modernized. However, Magome, nestled deep in the mountains, preserved its historical appearance through the wishes of the local residents. Roads in the historical preserve are paved with stones, and telegraph poles, glass windows and other artifacts of modern civilization are nowhere to be seen.

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