Misty Morning at Yotsuya Mitsuke (Kasumi no asa: Yotsuya Mitsuke), Shôwa period, dated 1932

Dated 1932, this oban-format print depicts the Yotsuya Mitsuke district of central Tokyo in the soft, diffuse light of a spring morning. Kasumi — a gauzy, atmospheric haze distinct from the denser kiri fog — dissolves the edges of the stone embankment and willow trees lining the outer moat of the former Edo castle grounds. Hasui renders the still water as a flat mirror of muted blues and grays, broken only by the faint reflection of architecture and foliage. The compositional structure is characteristically horizontal, anchoring the scene with a low horizon line that allows the pale sky to dominate. Bokashi gradations in the sky move from cool gray near the horizon to a warmer, lighter tone above, suggesting early morning rather than full daylight. This print belongs to Hasui's ongoing documentation of atmospheric Tokyo streetscapes, produced under the patronage of publisher Watanabe Shozaburo.