Kumamoto Castle in Samidare (Rain in May)

Samidare — the persistent cold rains of the fifth lunar month, roughly corresponding to May and June in the Gregorian calendar — carries long associations in Japanese poetry and art with melancholy, verdure, and the passage of the rainy season. Hasui depicts Kumamoto Castle under these early-summer rains, distinguishing this composition from his other castle-in-rain views through the quality of the light and the foliage state: the trees surrounding the castle grounds would be in full leaf, their greens deepened by the wet air. The castle's white plaster walls and dark roof tiles contrast with the overcast sky, and the moisture-laden atmosphere would be rendered through Hasui's nuanced bokashi in the upper portion of the sheet.