Miyajima Shrine in the Snow

This print depicts the Itsukushima Shrine complex on Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture, one of Japan's most celebrated sacred sites, rendered under a mantle of snow. Hasui likely positioned the composition to show the shrine's covered corridors or the famous torii gate emerging from still water, with snow weighing on the vermillion lacquered woodwork. The contrast between the shrine's warm architectural colors and the cold, muted tones of the winter landscape was a hallmark of Hasui's approach to meisho-e subjects. Soft bokashi gradations in the sky convey overcast winter light, while precise carving captures the texture of accumulated snow. Published by Watanabe Shozaburo, this impression belongs to a recurrent subject in Hasui's oeuvre that he revisited across multiple decades and print series.