Saishō Temple in Hirosaki (Hirosaki, Saishō-in), from the series Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fūkei shū higashi Nihon hen)
by Kawase Hasui
by Kawase Hasui
Saisho Temple in Hirosaki (Hirosaki, Saisho-in), designed by Kawase Hasui in 1936 for the series Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen), is held by the Art Institute of Chicago. The woodblock print depicts Saisho-in, a Buddhist temple in the castle town of Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture, known for its five-storied pagoda built in the late seventeenth century. Kawase Hasui sets the pagoda against a sky of softly graded color, with surrounding trees and temple buildings massed at its base. The contrast between the slender ascending profile of the pagoda and the broader temple compound gives the composition both vertical drama and grounded weight. The print is characteristic of Kawase Hasui's mature [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga), or new prints, practice under publisher Watanabe Shozaburo, who had built a Tokyo workshop in which carvers and printers translated artists' designs into highly finished color prints. The Eastern Japan Edition surveyed the regions north and east of Tokyo, and Hirosaki, a former castle town and regional cultural center in northern Tohoku, was a natural subject for the series. Kawase Hasui's choice of the Saisho-in pagoda reflects his interest in historic religious architecture as well as his attention to less-famous sites within well-known cities. The careful gradations of sky and the warm tones of the pagoda's wood demonstrate the printing techniques the Watanabe Shozaburo workshop had refined over the previous two decades, anchoring the print firmly within the shin-hanga aesthetic of disciplined, atmospheric landscape.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Saishō Temple in Hirosaki (Hirosaki, Saishō-in), from the series Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fūkei shū higashi Nihon hen) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in 1936.
Yes — Saishō Temple in Hirosaki (Hirosaki, Saishō-in), from the series Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fūkei shū higashi Nihon hen) is part of the Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition series by Kawase Hasui.
Saishō Temple in Hirosaki (Hirosaki, Saishō-in), from the series Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fūkei shū higashi Nihon hen) uses Bokashi, on woodblock print; ink and color on paper.
Saishō Temple in Hirosaki (Hirosaki, Saishō-in), from the series Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fūkei shū higashi Nihon hen) depicts landscapes, temples & shrines, and famous places (meisho-e).
