Two figures share a blue umbrella beneath a vermilion gate

Rain falls on the vermilion gate of Kasuga Shrine in Nara. The great red structure fills the upper right, its bracketed eaves and green-blue lattice rendered in flat, confident colour, with dark cryptomeria massed behind it in grey. Two figures share a blue paper umbrella on the wet flagstones below, small against the architecture, and a row of hanging bronze lanterns catches the light under the eaves. The foreground paving is a sheet of reflected grey and red.

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.