Kiko Temple, Nara Prefecture (Kikoji (Nara ken))

Date:: 1950
Medium:: Color woodblock print; oban
Format:: Oban
Publisher:: Watanabe Shozaburo
Edition:: Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Typical Price

Temple and shrine subjects form the backbone of Hasui's rural Japan repertoire — steady, consistently popular categories that hold value across all market conditions. Snow at temple subjects command the highest premiums (Snow at Tosho-gu Shrine in Ueno achieved $3,200 at Artelino; Saishoin Temple in the Snow reached $3,000). Standard pre-war temple scenes without snow trade between $1,000–$3,500. Postwar lifetime editions (1946–1957) bearing the small 6mm J-seal represent authentic lifetime impressions but from the artist's final decade.

Pre-war lifetime edition (Watanabe seal): $1,000–$3,500
Postwar lifetime edition (J-seal): $400–$1,500
Posthumous/Heisei edition: $200–$600

Description

Kiko Temple in Nara Prefecture, published in 1950, depicts Kiko-ji — a Buddhist temple in the Nara region — in a composition emphasizing the temple's architectural presence within its landscape setting. The Temples & Shrines and [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) tags indicate a composition of atmospheric depth, with the temple's main hall or gate visible against a graduated sky. The 1950 date places this among Hasui's postwar Nara-area documentation when he revisited the ancient capital's religious landscape across multiple compositions, finding in Nara's many temples a subject of inexhaustible variety.