Rainy Season at Ryoshimachi, Shinagawa

The fifth extant impression of Hasui's Ryoshimachi, Shinagawa composition demonstrates the cumulative wear that woodblocks sustain across a large edition. Hair-thin lines in the architectural detail — the vertical boards of the boat sheds, the lattice of wooden railings — show slightly increased width relative to early states, a result of the gradual compression of the carved grooves under repeated pressure from the baren. The rainy-season mood remains intact through the overcast sky gradation and the cool tonal register of the entire composition. Shinagawa at this period retained pockets of the older fishing-town character alongside newer industrial development, and Hasui's selection of this particular quarter reflects his consistent preference for subjects that preserved a connection to pre-modern Japanese townscape and waterfront life.