Sakurajima, Kagoshima, from the series Selected Views of Japan (Nihon fûkei senshû)

This print is part of Selected Views of Japan (Nihon fūkei senshū), a series in which Hasui documented landscapes from across the archipelago, extending his meisho-e practice beyond the Tokyo and Tohoku subjects of his earlier work. The Sakurajima composition depicts the active volcanic cone rising from Kagoshima Bay in Kyushu — a site whose combination of open water, atmospheric smoke, and monumental natural form suited Hasui's mature landscape vocabulary. In the context of a national survey series, Sakurajima functions as a representative Kyushu image, balancing southern Japan's warmer palette and more dramatic volcanic geography against the snow and temple subjects drawn from Tohoku and Hokkaido. The series format encouraged Hasui and publisher Watanabe to select subjects with immediate visual legibility, and the cone of Sakurajima, visible from the Kagoshima waterfront, provided exactly the kind of iconic landmark that anchored a regional entry in such a survey.