A stone rampart climbs into an ultramarine night

A deep ultramarine night fills the sky above the Tonashi gate at Matsuyama Castle. The massive sloped stone rampart climbs the right of the sheet, its blocks picked out in cool grey, while the timber gatehouse sits low and dark at the centre with its tiled roof catching a little light. A single flowering tree breaks the darkness at the left in small strokes of white, and a pine leans over the path. Almost the whole print is carried on blue — Hasui grading the sky from near-black at the top to a lighter wash behind the roofline.

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.