Misty Night at Miyajima (Oboroyo [Miyajima]), from the series Souvenirs of Travel II (Tabi miyage dai nishû)

From the series Tabi miyage dai nishû (Souvenirs of Travel II), published by Watanabe Shozaburo, this print depicts the grand vermillion torii gate of Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Bay on a hazy, moonlit night. Oboroyo — an overcast, dimly luminous night — diffuses any direct moonlight into a generalized ambient glow that renders the water and sky in close tonal registers. The great O-torii, constructed in the sea and accessible only at high tide, rises from still water that mirrors its columns in wavering reflections. Hasui likely employed reserve areas and carefully calibrated bokashi to distinguish the lantern-lit shrine precinct from the misty darkness surrounding it. The series Souvenirs of Travel II drew on Hasui's extensive sketching journeys across Japan in the early Taisho period, and Miyajima appears repeatedly as one of the most frequently revisited subjects in his oeuvre.