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. This postwar design (1946–1957) bears the small 6mm J-seal on lifetime impressions — authentic but from the artist's final decade, when block quality had declined from peak period.
Kawara Spa in Joshu, published in 1948, depicts the Kawarayu hot spring resort in the Agatsuma River gorge of present-day Gunma Prefecture (Joshu) — a historical spa town perched on the gorge walls above the river, its wooden buildings cantilevered over the hot-spring-fed stream. The Joshu mountain spas were among the most remote and atmospheric in the Kanto-adjacent highlands, their timber architecture built directly over the hot spring sources. The 1948 date places this among Hasui's immediate postwar return to mountain spa subjects in the Joshu highlands.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Kawara Spa, Joshu (Joshu Kawarayu) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in 1948.
Kawara Spa, Joshu (Joshu Kawarayu) was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1948).
Kawara Spa, Joshu (Joshu Kawarayu) depicts landscapes, rivers & lakes, and village scenes.
