MOONLIGHT NIGHT AT MIYAJIMA

A further impression of Hasui's Miyajima nocturne depicts the floating torii of Itsukushima Shrine under moonlight. The O-torii gate—rebuilt through the centuries and maintained in lacquered vermilion—occupies the compositional center, its two main pillars flanked by subsidiary crossbeams, the structure rising directly from the bay's tidal shallows. At night with the tide in, the gate's reflection in the still water of the inlet creates a formal near-symmetry that Hasui exploits as the composition's primary visual device. The shin-hanga production process—using dampened washi, hand-ground mineral pigments, and a bamboo baren for impression—allowed printers to achieve the subtle tonal variation across the water surface that distinguishes strong impressions from weaker ones. Variation between impressions of this design in the depth of the nocturnal blue ground, the warmth of the reflected ochre of the gate, and the handling of the lunar reflection on water reflects the hand-craft standards of the Watanabe workshop.