Gosho Ningyö (Palace Doll)

This impression from Hasui's Palace Doll series depicts a gosho ningyo in a composition that foregrounds the formal qualities of traditional Japanese craft objects. Gosho ningyo were carved from paulownia wood and coated in white gofun paste to achieve their characteristic opaque finish; translating that surface to woodblock print required a restrained palette with the white of the washi paper doing significant work. In this state, color blocks would define shadows in the doll's robes or the surface on which it rests, while the figure itself remains largely unprinted or lightly tinted. The series as a whole reflects shin-hanga publishers' interest in Japanese traditional arts as subjects, positioning these prints within a broader cultural project of documentation and aesthetic appreciation during the interwar period.