Funabashi [in Chiba, Shimosa District, from the series Japan Scenery Prints (Nihon fûkei hanga)?], Taishô period, circa 1917

Funabashi, a coastal town on Tokyo Bay in the Shimosa district of Chiba prefecture, appears here as part of Hakutei's series Nihon fûkei hanga (Japan Scenery Prints), produced around 1917 during his systematic effort to document Japanese regional landscapes through the woodblock medium. Funabashi had a long association with fishing and maritime commerce, and the print likely depicts the bay shoreline with boats, nets, or the low wooden structures of a working harbor town. Hakutei's approach to landscape in this series drew on both Western compositional conventions — including aerial perspective and a horizon-anchored viewpoint — and the native meisho-e tradition of rendering specific, recognizable places. Printed on washi in oban format, the Nihon fûkei hanga prints were conceived as a sosaku-hanga project, with Hakutei directing the full process. The Shimosa coastal setting would have provided opportunity for graduated sky and water passages rendered through careful bokashi, contrasting with the linear definition of boat hulls and shoreline architecture.