Rain over the balconies of a mountain hot-spring inn

Rain falls in fine diagonal lines over the timber inn buildings of Sakunami hot springs. Two storeys of balconies run across the upper half of the sheet with laundry and shoji panels showing between the posts, and vivid green foliage crowds in behind them. Below, a long covered walkway with a shingled roof crosses the foreground, where two small figures in blue shelter against the rail. A stone retaining wall and a few steps lead down at the lower left. Green and grey-blue carry the whole print.

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.