Lake Haruna (Harunako)
by Kawase Hasui
- Date:
- October 1935
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
by Kawase Hasui
River, lake, and coastal scenes form the largest single category in Hasui's output — steady, popular subjects with consistent demand. Value is driven primarily by edition period (pre-war vs. postwar lifetime vs. posthumous), condition, and the presence of seasonal atmospheric effects. Night and rain variants of water scenes command 20–40% premiums over comparable daytime views. Pre-war lifetime editions bearing the Watanabe copyright seal (A through G types, 1926–1944) are the most desirable.
Lake Haruna, published in October 1935, depicts the crater lake of Mount Haruna — one of the three volcanic mountains surrounding the Numata basin in Gunma Prefecture — in the autumn clarity when the surrounding caldera walls are turning gold and the deep crater lake's surface reflects the sky with mirror-like stillness. Lake Haruna's caldera setting, with its near-circular shoreline enclosed by volcanic rim hills and the distant Kanto plain visible over the crater's edge, gave Hasui an unusually enclosed mountain-lake subject. The October date aligns with the peak autumn coloration of the caldera's deciduous forest.
Nikko Chuzenjiko
1930
Color woodblock print; oban
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Niigata Gosaibori
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Lake Haruna (Harunako) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in October 1935.
Lake Haruna (Harunako) uses Bokashi, on color woodblock print.
Lake Haruna (Harunako) was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (October 1935).
Lake Haruna (Harunako) depicts rivers & lakes.
