Paper lanterns burn along a dark Osaka street

Evening in the Sōemon-chō entertainment district of Osaka. A long dark teahouse runs across the upper half of the sheet, its second storey hung with a row of round paper lanterns glowing orange-red, and two lit windows showing warm yellow. Hasui prints the sky a deep blue-green and the street a broad expanse of warm brown, empty except for a few figures — two women in patterned kimono at the left, two men in dark coats by the blue railing at the right. A telegraph pole cuts the sky.

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.