Sacred Bridge in Nikko (Nikko Shinkyo)

Date:: 1930
Medium:: Color woodblock print; oban
Format:: Oban
Publisher:: Watanabe Shozaburo
Edition:: Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Typical Price

Edition period is the primary value driver for Hasui prints. Pre-war lifetime editions with the Watanabe copyright seal (A through D types) consistently achieve 3–5× the price of posthumous reprints of the same design. Condition is the second key factor — unfaded colors, full margins, and absence of foxing or staining are essential. Subject matter (snow > rain > night > other) provides a further modifier within each edition tier.

Pre-war lifetime edition (Watanabe seal, 1926–1944): $1,000–$4,000
Postwar lifetime edition (J-seal, 1946–1957): $400–$1,500
Posthumous/Heisei edition (seal K/I, 1957–present): $150–$600

Description

Sacred Bridge at Nikko (Nikko Shinkyo), published in 1930, depicts the vermillion sacred bridge spanning the Daiya River at the entrance to Nikko's shrine complex — the same subject Hasui would return to in 1953 with more refined technique. This 1930 version, with its bokashi treatment and Bridges tag, represents an earlier compositional approach to the shinkyo's dramatic arc and its relationship to the surrounding cedar forest and the river's clear mountain water below. The 1930 Nikko bridge subject initiated Hasui's sustained documentation of the site.