Inland Sea

This print depicts the Seto Naikai, the inland sea between Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, one of Japan's most celebrated scenic regions and a recurring subject in Japanese art from the classical period onward. Hasui likely rendered a view across calm water toward one or several of the sea's characteristic pine-covered islands, with a fishing vessel or transport boat providing scale and a focal point in the middle distance. The Inland Sea's still waters and atmospheric haze suited his technique of graduated sky printing, with bokashi transitions from pale horizon to deeper blue or violet overhead. This impression — one of multiple editions of the subject — may differ in the warmth of the light suggesting time of day, the density of atmospheric haze, or the specific island forms in the background. The subject carries resonance with earlier Hiroshige treatments of the same waters.