Aoba Castle in Sendai

This print depicts the stone walls and surviving gate structures of Sendai Castle (Aoba-jo) on the wooded summit of Aobayama hill. Hasui frames the ruins against an open sky, using the diagonal thrust of the stonework to anchor the composition. Graduated bokashi in the sky transitions from pale blue to deeper indigo, a technique central to shin-hanga atmospheric printing. The castle was largely destroyed in the 1880s, leaving only its moat, stone foundations, and the Date clan's equestrian statue as landmarks; Hasui's treatment emphasizes the melancholy dignity of partial ruins rather than grandeur. Published by Watanabe Shozaburo, this is among Hasui's landscapes of the Tohoku region documented during his extensive travel sketching journeys.