Though best known for bijin-ga, Shinsui also produced landscape prints of great refinement. These typically trade at lower prices than his figure subjects but attract collectors seeking less competition.
A moon half-obscured by thin clouds or mist—the "hazy moon" (oborozuki) that was one of the most celebrated atmospheric subjects in Japanese poetry and art—is rendered here with the [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations that Shinsui used to build the soft, diffused glow of moonlight through cloud cover. The hazy moon carried enormous poetic weight in the Japanese tradition, appearing in classical waka and haiku as a symbol of things beautiful precisely because they are partially concealed—the principle of ma (negative space) extended to the sky. The bokashi printing excels at rendering this specific quality of light.
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
1919
Color woodblock print
January 1938
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Hazy moon was created by Ito Shinsui (伊東深水).
Hazy moon uses Bokashi, on woodblock print.
Hazy moon was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Hazy moon depicts moonlight and night scenes.
