Dawn at Beppu

Beppu, on the northeastern coast of Kyushu in Ōita Prefecture, is renowned for its jigoku—boiling hot spring pools—and for the columns of steam that rise across the city in cold weather. Hasui's dawn scene at Beppu likely captures this distinctive phenomenon: thermal steam drifting above rooftops or waterfront structures in the pale light before sunrise. The sky would be handled in delicate bokashi, shifting from deep indigo at the top through blue-grey to a warm amber or rose at the horizon, where steam and sky merge in soft tonal gradations. The dark silhouettes of low buildings or fishing boats along Beppu Bay would anchor the composition against this luminous backdrop. The print exemplifies Hasui's practice of selecting sites that offered both topographic specificity and atmospheric drama—Beppu's steam columns providing natural pictorial interest unavailable at most locations, reinforcing the sense of place that distinguishes his travel imagery.