Rain at Nara, the Pagoda at Kofuku Temple (Nara no ame Kofukuji no to)
Nara no ame Kofukuji no to
by Kawase Hasui
Nara no ame Kofukuji no to
by Kawase Hasui
Rain scenes are Hasui's second most desirable atmospheric category, carrying a 20–40% premium over comparable clear-weather subjects. Rainy Season, Shinagawa (1931) sold for $4,375 at Christie's Online (2020). The bokashi gradation technique used for rain effects demands superior impressions — well-preserved sky gradations add significantly to value, while faded examples lose much of their impact. Postwar lifetime editions (1946–1957) bearing the small 6mm J-seal represent authentic lifetime impressions but from the artist's final decade.
Rain at Nara — the Pagoda at Kofuku Temple, published in 1951, depicts the five-story pagoda of Kofuku-ji temple — the iconic silhouette most associated with the Nara cityscape — under rainfall, its stone lanterns and ancient tiers softened by the gray curtain of precipitation. The Kofuku-ji pagoda, built in 730 CE and rebuilt after fire in 1426, is the second-tallest pagoda in Japan, and its distinctive profile against the Nara sky has been a subject for artists for centuries. The rain treatment — with its [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) sky and wet-stone surfaces — gives the 1951 composition a contemplative, weathered quality suited to one of Japan's oldest monuments.
伏見稲荷
Woodblock print
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
Uji Byodoin no ichibu
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Rain at Nara, the Pagoda at Kofuku Temple (Nara no ame Kofukuji no to) (Nara no ame Kofukuji no to) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in 1951.
Rain at Nara, the Pagoda at Kofuku Temple (Nara no ame Kofukuji no to) uses Bokashi, Nishiki-e, and Moku-hanga, on color woodblock print.
Rain at Nara, the Pagoda at Kofuku Temple (Nara no ame Kofukuji no to) was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1951).
Rain at Nara, the Pagoda at Kofuku Temple (Nara no ame Kofukuji no to) depicts temples & shrines, pagodas, and rain, set at Nara.
Rain at Nara, the Pagoda at Kofuku Temple (Nara no ame Kofukuji no to) measures 24.3 × 36.8 cm (Oban format).
