A blue umbrella against grey rain on the water

Heavy rain over the water at Shinagawa. Dark timber buildings stand at the left, a low wooden bridge crosses the middle distance with a figure under a yellow umbrella on it, and beyond are the pale roofs of the waterfront. In the foreground a man in dark clothes carries a bright blue umbrella beside moored barges and a small boat drawn up on the stones. The sky is a mass of grey-blue cloud and the water below is worked in long blue strokes broken by reflections.

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.