Cherry blossom through an open castle gate in the rain

Rain falls in fine grey lines over the Sakurada gate of the Tokyo castle moat. The gate's dark timber doors stand open beneath a red-tiled canopy set into a wall of large fitted grey stones, with a white plastered guardhouse and tiled roof running across the top of the sheet. Through the opening three figures with umbrellas stand beneath a white cherry and a green willow. A second cherry in bloom hangs in at the left, and the moat below carries the whole wall in vertical strokes of grey and rose.

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.