Asano River, Kanazawa, from the series Souvenirs of Travel, First Series

The Asano River flows through central Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture, historically the castle town of the Maeda clan and one of Japan's best-preserved Edo-period urban environments. Published as part of the Souvenirs of Travel First Series (Tabi miyage daishu), one of Hasui's earliest collaborative series with Watanabe Shozaburo beginning around 1919, this print records the river's graceful stone embankments, wooden townhouses, and the distinctive covered bridges that characterized the city's merchant districts. The Asano River's shallow, clear water over a gravel bed and its flanking willow trees made it an ideal subject for Hasui's reflective water technique. The composition likely places the viewer at river level, with the receding embankment providing linear perspective. The First Series prints are relatively small in format and demonstrate Hasui's early mastery of atmospheric graduation before his style fully matured.