Morning At Tsuchiura

Lake Kasumigaura at Tsuchiura is one of the most reproduced subjects in Hasui's catalogue, and the morning view from the lakeside is the composition most closely associated with this location. The lake's expansive, flat horizon allows Hasui to give the sky the dominant share of the picture plane, rendering the transition from night to morning through carefully graduated bokashi applications of indigo, lavender, and pale gold. Hobiki-bune, the sail-driven freight boats native to Kasumigaura, appear moored or moving at low angles across the still water, their dark wooden hulls and furled sails providing vertical structure against the horizontal lake. Tsuchiura was reachable from Tokyo by train on the Joban Line, and Hasui visited the area to make preparatory sketches. The design's long publishing history — it appears in numerous editions with variant seals and coloration — reflects the sustained demand it generated among collectors both in Japan and abroad, particularly during the interwar years when Western interest in shin-hanga was at its peak. This is the primary recorded version.