Morning at the Arayu Spa, Shiobara (Toyado no asa (Shiobara Arayu))
by Kawase Hasui
by Kawase Hasui
Edition period is the primary value driver for Hasui prints. Pre-war lifetime editions with the Watanabe copyright seal (A through D types) consistently achieve 3–5× the price of posthumous reprints of the same design. Condition is the second key factor — unfaded colors, full margins, and absence of foxing or staining are essential. Subject matter (snow > rain > night > other) provides a further modifier within each edition tier. This postwar design (1946–1957) bears the small 6mm J-seal on lifetime impressions — authentic but from the artist's final decade, when block quality had declined from peak period.
Arayu Hot Spring at Shiobara appears here at morning, the inn buildings and outdoor baths of the most rustic Shiobara spa cluster visible in early light with steam rising from the volcanic water. This 1946 print pairs with the evening view of the same spa, giving the Arayu subject both its nocturnal and dawn character. The Toyado no asa title (morning on the Toyo Road) specifies the approaching-dawn condition before the inn's guests are yet awake.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Morning at the Arayu Spa, Shiobara (Toyado no asa (Shiobara Arayu)) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in 1946.
Morning at the Arayu Spa, Shiobara (Toyado no asa (Shiobara Arayu)) was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1946).
Morning at the Arayu Spa, Shiobara (Toyado no asa (Shiobara Arayu)) depicts landscapes, rivers & lakes, and village scenes.
