A bell tower against blue rain over a wet street

A tiered wooden bell tower with a green copper roof rises against a deep blue rainy sky at Okayama. Rain is cut into the block as long diagonal lines across the whole sheet. Timber townhouses press in on both sides, one with a blue-lit upper window and a small window box of red flowers, and the street below is a wet grey mirror carrying their reflections. A single figure under an umbrella stands far down the street at the left, giving the tower its height.

Kawase Hasui (1883–1957) was the defining landscape artist of shin-hanga, the movement that carried Japanese woodblock printing into the twentieth century. From 1918 he worked with the publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō, travelling almost continuously through Japan and turning roadside sketches into prints of unusual atmospheric precision. Snow, rain and failing light were his real subjects, as much as any temple or harbour. In 1956 Japan recognised his woodblock technique as an Intangible Cultural Property. His prints are held by the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.