May Rain- Arakawa — 五月雨（荒川）

May Rain, Arakawa depicts the broad, channeled Arakawa River during the satsuki-ame rainy season in a composition dominated by water and sky. Hasui uses bokashi gradations to render the overcast sky as a layered field of greys, lighter toward the horizon and heavier overhead. The river surface below reflects this sky in muted, slightly warmer tones. Fine diagonal rain lines, applied from a dedicated block, cross both sky and water, unifying the composition's two primary zones. Sparse dark forms along the embankment—trees or reeds—interrupt the horizontal bands and give the print its minimal sense of place. The oban-format sheet allows Hasui to exploit the river's natural width.