"A Fine Winter's Sky, Miyajima"

This impression of Hasui's Miyajima winter composition shows the torii gate of Itsukushima Shrine set against a winter sky, one of his recurring treatments of this national landmark. The design was issued in multiple editions, and this impression represents one of those printings. In such compositions Hasui typically exploited the contrast between the architecture's warm vermillion tones and the cool, pale light of winter, building the sky through horizontal [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) passes that shade from warm white near the horizon to a cold grey-blue above. The still water of the Seto Inland Sea would mirror the gate and sky below, a compositional device Hasui employed frequently at coastal and lake subjects.