$400–$3,000. Common subjects: $400–$1,000. Key value factors: Kawanishi's Kobe port scenes are his most distinctive and collected subjects.
The Rokko mountain range rises steeply behind Kobe, forming a dramatic backdrop to the city's harbor and urban districts. This color woodblock print depicts the mountains from within the city, likely looking north from the waterfront or hillside neighborhoods where the peaks fill the skyline. Kawanishi, who spent his life between the harbor and these mountains, understood the Rokko range as the defining geographic feature of Kobe's identity. The mountains offered hiking trails, hot springs, and panoramic views of the Inland Sea, and their forested slopes provided a green counterpoint to the industrial harbor below. Kawanishi's rendering likely balances the natural grandeur of the mountain silhouette with the urban foreground, capturing the compressed geography that makes Kobe a city squeezed between mountains and sea.
Woodblock print
1928
Color lithograph
1930
Color lithograph
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Rokko Mountains, Kobe was created by Hide Kawanishi (川西英) in 20th century.
Rokko Mountains, Kobe depicts urban scenes, landscapes, and mountains, set at Kobe.
