by Kawase Hasui
Night views with moonlight and lantern effects carry a 20–30% premium over comparable daytime scenes. The dramatic tonal contrasts required for nocturnal subjects make impression quality especially important — fine examples from pre-war printings show a depth of color that later editions rarely match. Prints with well-preserved black areas and accurate moonlight bokashi command the highest prices. Pre-war lifetime editions bearing the Watanabe copyright seal (A through G types, 1926–1944) are the most desirable.
Dusk at Aso in Ibaraki Prefecture, published in December 1936, depicts the settlement of Aso near the Kasumigaura lake region in Ibaraki at the quiet hour of late afternoon transitioning to evening — the yu (dusk) that gave many of Hasui's most atmospheric prints their particular quality. The flat Ibaraki landscape, with its wide lake horizons and minimal topographic variation, gave dusk subjects an unusual expansiveness: the sky's gradation from the first evening colors to deep blue visible over a broad, low horizon without the interruption of mountain or hillside. The December date intensifies the quality of winter dusk light.
$2,495
Woodblock print
Teradomari no yau
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Dusk at Asō, Ibaraki Prefecture was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in December 1936.
Dusk at Asō, Ibaraki Prefecture was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (December 1936).
Dusk at Asō, Ibaraki Prefecture depicts night scenes.
Dusk at Asō, Ibaraki Prefecture measures 36.2 × 24.1 cm (Oban format).
