Great Buddha at Kamakura

This composition presents the Kotoku-in Daibutsu, the thirteenth-century bronze Amida Buddha at Kamakura, as a landmark subject within Hasui's broader project of documenting Japan's significant meisho — famous places. The statue, originally cast in 1252 during the Kamakura period, has sat exposed to the elements since the fifteenth century, giving it a distinctive oxidized surface that varies from greenish bronze to dark brown. Hasui's print likely renders the figure from a low vantage, accentuating the Buddha's meditative presence and the mass of its form against sky. The surrounding grounds — stone paths, pine and cedar trees, and the gentle slope of the Kamakura hills — provided compositional framing elements. Shin-hanga production methods at Watanabe's studio would have involved a carver interpreting Hasui's sketch in cherry wood blocks, with printers pulling successive color impressions on dampened washi to achieve the atmospheric depth characteristic of the series.