Departing Spring
by Kawase Hasui
- Date:
- Spring 1925
- Medium:
- Woodblock print, ink and color on paper with mica
- Format:
- Oban
- Dimensions:
- 36.8 × 24.1 cm
by Kawase Hasui
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.
Departing Spring, published in Spring 1925, depicts the final days of the cherry blossom season — the moment when the blossoms begin to fall and the petals drift in a soft blizzard of pink and white, signaling the year's most celebrated season's inevitable end. The "departing spring" (yukiharuki or late spring) subject is among the most melancholy in the Japanese seasonal calendar, the ephemeral beauty of the sakura making its passing a meditation on impermanence. Hasui's 1925 composition likely depicts a parkside or riverside cherry grove with petals falling on still water or a garden path, the bokashi sky capturing the soft diffused light of late spring.
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Woodblock print
1939
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
20th century
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Departing Spring was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in Spring 1925.
Departing Spring uses Bokashi, on woodblock print, ink and color on paper with mica.
Departing Spring was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (Spring 1925).
Departing Spring depicts spring.
Departing Spring measures 36.8 × 24.1 cm (Oban format).
