Azuma Gorge (Azuma kyo)

Date:: 1943
Medium:: Color woodblock print
Format:: Oban
Publisher:: Watanabe Shozaburo

Edition:

Published by Watanabe Shozaburo

Source:

Typical Price

Edition period is the primary value driver for Hasui prints. Pre-war lifetime editions with the Watanabe copyright seal (A through D types) consistently achieve 3–5× the price of posthumous reprints of the same design. Condition is the second key factor — unfaded colors, full margins, and absence of foxing or staining are essential. Subject matter (snow > rain > night > other) provides a further modifier within each edition tier.

Pre-war lifetime edition (Watanabe seal, 1926–1944): $1,000–$4,000
Postwar lifetime edition (J-seal, 1946–1957): $400–$1,500
Posthumous/Heisei edition (seal K/I, 1957–present): $150–$600

Description

Azuma Gorge (Azumakyo), published in 1943, depicts the volcanic gorge carved by the Azuma River through the lava fields of the Azuma volcano complex in present-day Fukushima Prefecture — a series of narrow chasms and basalt columns formed by ancient lava flows, with the gorge walls dropping sheer to the river below. The Azuma gorge's dramatic geological formations, with dark basalt columns and the river's turquoise-green water visible far below, offered Hasui a subject of geological intensity rather than the more typical pastoral or coastal landscapes. The 1943 wartime date places this in the period of increasingly local Japanese travel subjects.