Hasui was a great master of the twentieth-century shin-hanga (new prints) school. His talent for capturing a mood, illustrating a scene, and drawing the viewer into the image makes for some of the most appealing Japanese woodblocks ever created.
Early life
Born in Tokyo in 1883, Hasui was always interested in art. He studied ukiyo-e and Japanese-style painting at the studio of Kiyokata Kaburagi. He also studied Western-style painting for a couple years. He had taken over his family’s wholesale rope business, but it failed when he was in his twenties, and he turned to art as a career.
Woodblock printing
Hasui spent most of his adult life as a woodblock printmaker. Unlike earlier ukiyo-e artists whose landscapes typically featured famous sites, Hasui was one of the first artists to record the unknown rural places and urban corners that he found so captivating. He traveled often and recorded the scenic wonders of Japan with drawings and watercolor paintings, which became the basis for many of his prints.
In the face of rapid modernization during the twentieth century, Hasui's prints evoke a sense of nostalgia for old Japan and a respect for traditional culture. His romanticized views emphasize the beauty of the natural landscape; figures are absent or often small and insignificant in comparison. Hasui was known for his spectacular snow, rain and night scenes. These wonderful atmospheric landscapes are among his best work.
A prolific artist, Hasui created about six hundred woodblock print designs during his long career, the majority of them for publisher Watanabe Shozaburo. In 1953 the Japanese government bestowed its greatest artistic honor on him by commissioning a print, Snow at Zozoji Temple, and designating it as an Intangible Cultural Treasure.
Tokaido, Nissaka, 1942 - Beautiful rainy night view of Nissaka, one of the stations along the famed Tokaido Road running from Edo to Kyoto during the Edo era. A mother carries her child on her back beneath an umbrella as she walks up a gently sloping street. A dog sits in front of one of the houses at right, the yellow glow from a few lighted windows up ahead reflected on the watery road, but otherwise the scene is quiet as twilight falls, creating blue and gray shadows. A lovely, atmospheric design, published by Watanabe, with 6 mm seal at lower right..
Signed - Hasui with red artist's seal "Kawase"
Publisher - Watanabe, with 6 mm seal at lower right, in use 1946 - 1947
Artist - Hasui (1883 - 1957)
Image Size - 9 1/2" x 14 1/4" + margins as shown
Condition - This print with excellent color and detail as shown. Slight paper remnant on reverse at top center from previous mounting. A few faint spots, slight rippling at edge from printing process. Please see photos for details.
