Snow bends a pine low over a half-buried bridge

Snow falls steadily over the Godōidō hall at Matsushima. Hasui keeps almost the entire sheet in warm greys and soft off-white: the pavilion's heavy snow-laden roof at the upper left, a pine bent low under its own weight of snow across the centre, and the small arched bridge half-buried beneath it. The bay below is flat pale water with the faintest blue in it, broken only by a few dark posts. Falling flakes are printed as small white specks across the whole image.

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.