A moon track broken across a bay of pine-topped islets

A full moon sits high in a bank of dark cloud and lays a broken silver track straight down the bay. Two rocky islets crowned with pines rise from the water, one at each side, printed almost black; low headlands run across the middle distance. A small boat carrying two figures moves at the right. The whole sheet is worked in blues, from near-black in the cloud to pale turquoise on the open water.

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.