Morning in Dotonbori, Osaka (Osaka Dotonbori no asa), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)"
by Kawase Hasui
by Kawase Hasui
Morning in Dotonbori, Osaka (Osaka Dotonbori no asa), designed by Kawase Hasui in 1933 for the series Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen), is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The woodblock print depicts the Dotonbori district of Osaka in the early hours, when the canal that gives the entertainment quarter its name is quiet and the long facades of theaters, teahouses, and merchant buildings line the water. Kawase Hasui frames the canal with the bridges and packed riverside architecture for which Dotonbori was already famous, but turns away from the area's nighttime energy in favor of a soft morning light. The result is an unusually contemplative view of one of Japan's busiest urban entertainment centers, characteristic of the artist's preference for the spaces between activity and stillness. Issued under the imprint of publisher Watanabe Shozaburo, the print belongs to the [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga), or new prints, movement that Watanabe directed from his Tokyo workshop. As with Kawase Hasui's other contributions to the Kansai Edition, Morning in Dotonbori was realized through the collaborative production model that defined shin-hanga: the artist's design was translated into multiple woodblocks by trained carvers and then printed by specialists who applied the layered colors and graded skies that gave Watanabe's publications their distinctive look. The Osaka subject extended Kawase Hasui's regional survey of Japan into the country's major commercial metropolis while preserving the artist's atmospheric, place-based approach to urban landscape.
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 in Dotonbori, Osaka (Osaka Dotonbori no asa), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)" was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in 1933.
Morning in Dotonbori, Osaka (Osaka Dotonbori no asa), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)" uses Bokashi, on color woodblock print; oban.
Morning in Dotonbori, Osaka (Osaka Dotonbori no asa), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)" depicts landscapes and famous places (meisho-e), set at Osaka.
