Hasui 巴水: Kakizaki Benten Shrine, Shimoda (Sold)

Artist: Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) 川瀬巴水
Title: Kakizaki Benten Shrine, Shimoda
Date: 1937 (This edition ca. 1940s)

The full moon rises above the peaceful Pacific, and not a soul is in sight in this all-blue evening scene. Steps lead through the entrance torii from the quay through to the grounds of Benten Shrine at Kakizaki in Shimoda. This must be the Ryujingu Shinto shrine on Benten Island, Kakisaki. The shrine sits against layered rocks next to a cluster of trees and seems to look almost the same today, although the surrounding areas have certainly become developed since 1937. It is not far from where the Japanese first sighted Perry’s Black Ships and where Japan’s trading and diplomatic contact with the US began in the 1850s. This work is rather scarce, as may be said for many of the works that were published close to the beginning of the larger escalation of WWII. There is no publisher's seal on this example, so it may be a test print, but the paper would point to a date of the 1940s.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition. Nice and clean overall.
Dimensions: ôban (26.3 x 39 cm)
Publisher: Watanabe Shôzaburô
Literature: Kendall Brown & Hollis Goodall-Cristante, Shin-hanga: New Prints in Modern Japan, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1996, p. 38, figs. 26 & 27 (watercolor). Kendall Brown, Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints, Hotei Publishing, 2003, no. 408.
Signature: Hasui

SKU: HAS577