Bandai Asahi — 磐梯朝日

Bandai Asahi depicts Mount Bandai in Fukushima Prefecture at the moment of sunrise, a subject that summarizes several of Hasui's recurring compositional and technical concerns: the treatment of a distinctive volcanic skyline, the gradation of dawn light, and the stillness of the natural landscape before human activity begins. The mountain's profile, altered by the 1888 eruption that removed its northern flank, is immediately recognizable against the morning sky. In this composition, Hasui likely includes the reflective surface of one of the lakes formed by the eruption's debris flow—Hibara, Onogawa, or Akimoto—which allows the dawn color to appear both above and below the mountain. The Watanabe workshop's skilled printers would have used careful baren pressure on dampened washi to achieve the soft gradation from night sky into morning light that characterizes this type of subject.