Lake Ezu in Kumamoto (Kumamoto Ezu-ko), from the series Selected Views of Japan (Nihon fûkei senshû)

This oban-format print belongs to Hasui's Nihon fûkei senshû (Selected Views of Japan), a series published by Watanabe Shozaburo that collected views from Hasui's travels across the Japanese archipelago during the 1920s. Lake Ezu (Ezu-ko) lies on the southwestern edge of Kumamoto city in Kyushu, a recognized scenic spot associated with the clear reflection of Mount Kinpo on its glassy surface. Hasui's composition likely positions the viewer at the water's edge looking across toward distant hills, with the lake's mirror-like calm dominating the lower half of the image. Graduated bokashi renders shifts in sky tone from a deeper hue at the top to pale near the horizon, a hallmark of the shin-hanga printing aesthetic. Vegetation along the shore — possibly reeds, bamboo, or low pines — provides textural contrast against the flat water. The series was conceived as a documentary survey of regional scenery, and the Kumamoto sheet situates Kyushu within a national landscape project shaped by the Taisho-era tourism expansion and new rail connectivity linking provincial destinations to urban audiences.