Rain at Yasuniwa, Nagano Prefecture (Yasuniwa no ame [Nagano ken])

Date:: 1946
Medium:: Color woodblock print; oban
Format:: Oban
Publisher:

Edition:

Published by Watanabe Shozaburo

Source:

Typical Price

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.

Pre-war lifetime edition (Watanabe seal): $1,500–$5,500
Postwar lifetime edition (J-seal): $600–$2,000
Posthumous/Heisei edition: $250–$700

Description

Rain at Yasuniwa in Nagano Prefecture falls on a rural district in the Nagano basin, the wide-sky landscape of the Nagano plain transformed by downpour into soft gray horizontals. This 1946 [oban](/glossary/oban) captures the rain-soaked agricultural landscape of inland Nagano — mountain edges blurred by cloud, flat fields darkened by rain, a composition defined by atmospheric absorption rather than crisp architectural form. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations in the sky build layers of wet air above the plain.

More Prints by Kawase Hasui

Cormorant Fishing on Nagaragawa — 鵜飼（長良川）

Woodblock print

Namari Spa — 岩手県鉛温泉

Woodblock print

Dusk- Tasogare — たそがれ

Woodblock print

Okutama in the Rain

Woodblock print

More Rain Prints

Rain Shower at Shо̄no, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tо̄kaidо̄ (Tо̄kaidо̄ gojusan tsugi)

1962

Woodblock print, ink and color on paper

Shōno: Driving Rain (Shōno hakuu), from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi no uchi), also known as the First Tōkaidō or Great Tōkaidō

c. 1833-36

Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

Omiya in Rain (Ame no Omiya)

Ame no Omiya

1930

Color woodblock print; oban

Evening Shower at Teradomari (Teradomari no yau), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"

Teradomari no yau

1921

Color woodblock print; oban

Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Shin-Hanga: Japan's Twentieth-Century Print Revival

Frequently Asked Questions

Rain at Yasuniwa, Nagano Prefecture (Yasuniwa no ame [Nagano ken]) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in 1946.

Rain at Yasuniwa, Nagano Prefecture (Yasuniwa no ame [Nagano ken]) uses Bokashi, on color woodblock print; oban.

Rain at Yasuniwa, Nagano Prefecture (Yasuniwa no ame [Nagano ken]) was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1946).

Rain at Yasuniwa, Nagano Prefecture (Yasuniwa no ame [Nagano ken]) depicts rain.