A white castle keep rises into a moonlit night sky

The great white keep of Himeji Castle rises from the lower left of the square sheet, its stacked roofs and curved gables printed in silvery grey-white against the dark. A mass of black trees hides its base. The rest of the sheet is night sky in deep blue, across which pale moonlit clouds drift diagonally from the castle towards the upper right, thinning as they go.

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.