Ito Shinsui 深水: Morning at Kanbayashi Onsen 上林の朝

Artist: Itō Shinsui 伊東深水
Title: Morning at Kanbayashi Spa 上林の朝  Series: Ten Views of Shinano Province 信濃十景 Date: 1948

Stunning hillside view of the Kanbayashi hot spring village nestled in the valley along the Yokoyu River. In our view from the Shiga Kogen highlands, a pine rises up in shadow to the left, while in the middle distance a mountain is blazing pink from the sun. In the far distance is the ridgeline of another range of mountains, which must be the dramatic Five Peaks of the Northern Alps. The setting sun's final rays are known to catch these peaks and turn them a vibrant pink while the valley below falls into twilight shadow. Beyond the foreground pine tree we see terraced fields in autumn or winter colors, and we see the spa town itself clustered along a stretch of the river in the blue-green shadow of late afternoon. Formerly known as Shinano Province, it is now Yamanouchi, Nagao Prefecture, and today it is the trailhead for the Jigokudani Monkey Park. It retains this timeless, undeveloped atmosphere even today. First edition, with the postwar round Watanabe seal at left, and the oval Watanabe seal, verso. Purchased in Japan near the time of publication by a US serviceman and never framed. Note that there exist Heisei editions of this work that were published in the 1990s; those have very different seals as well as a much flatter aspect to them.

Literature: See LACMA collection, MOMAT (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo). See Tadasu Watanabe, Ito Shinsui: All the Woodblock Prints, 1992, page 179, number 119.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Mint. Dimensions: 27.8 x 39.2 cm
Seal: Shinsui  Signature: Shinsui

SKU: SNI054