Okitsu-cho, Suruga

Okitsu-cho on the Suruga coast was a subject Hasui returned to on multiple occasions, producing compositional variants that reflect different times of day, seasons, or vantage points along the shoreline. This version, distinguished from related designs in the catalogue, likely presents the fishing village from a slightly altered angle or under different atmospheric conditions. The town of Okitsu sits at the point where the Tokaido road meets the sea, and its small harbor, wooden fishing boats, and the silhouette of the Izu Peninsula across Suruga Bay were all elements Hasui drew upon. The Tokaido corridor carried strong associative weight in Japanese print culture, and Hasui's coastal interpretations of its stations update the tradition of meisho-e — pictures of famous places — for the Taisho and Showa periods. Graduated sky passages and water reflections would have required multiple impression layers with careful baren pressure and block alignment.