Akashi-chô after Rain (Akashi-chô no ugo), from the series Twenty Views of Tokyo (Tôkyô nijûkei)
by Kawase Hasui
by Kawase Hasui
Published as part of Hasui's celebrated series Tōkyō nijūkei (Twenty Views of Tokyo), this print depicts Akashichō—a district in what is now Chūō Ward—in the immediate aftermath of rain. The series, issued by Watanabe Shōzaburō beginning in 1919, established Hasui's reputation as the preeminent chronicler of Tokyo's transitional urban landscape. Post-rain scenes were among his most technically demanding compositions: wet pavement required careful printing of reflective surfaces, with lamplight or sky color inverted in standing puddles through deliberate ink layering. The Akashichō district, then a transitional zone between older Shitamachi neighborhoods and the expanding commercial center, would be depicted under a clearing sky with figures under umbrellas or a solitary street lamp casting pools of reflected light on glistening stone. The combination of glistening surfaces and a luminous, washed sky became one of the defining visual signatures of the Twenty Views series.
Color woodblock print
Color woodblock print
Color woodblock print
Color woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Akashi-chô after Rain (Akashi-chô no ugo), from the series Twenty Views of Tokyo (Tôkyô nijûkei) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水).
Yes — Akashi-chô after Rain (Akashi-chô no ugo), from the series Twenty Views of Tokyo (Tôkyô nijûkei) is part of the Twenty Views of Tokyo series by Kawase Hasui.
Akashi-chô after Rain (Akashi-chô no ugo), from the series Twenty Views of Tokyo (Tôkyô nijûkei) depicts edo & tokyo, rain, and famous places (meisho-e).
