Japanese Woodblock Print, Tennoji Temple in Osaka (Osaka Tennoji), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series (Tabi miyage dai sanshu)" 1927, 1st Edition published by Shozaburo Watanabe, with publishers "A seal" used only between 1924 and 1930

SIZE IN INCHES: oban, 10.25 x 15.5

COMMENTS: Nicely preserved first edition of a very rare Hasui print. A copy with a "C seal sold at Christie's in 2021 for $27.5K + premium.

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.

VG, minor flaws as shown