Sanggye pavilion, Paekyang Temple
by Kawase Hasui
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
- Image courtesy of
- Japanese Art Open Database
Description
Paekyang Temple (Baegyang-sa) is a Buddhist temple in South Cholla Province (present-day South Korea), located in the Naejangsan mountain range. Hasui produced a small but significant body of prints depicting sites on the Korean peninsula during research trips undertaken when Korea was under Japanese colonial administration. The Sanggye pavilion, a wooden structure elevated above the temple precinct, offered a subject that combined traditional Korean Buddhist architectural forms with the forested mountain settings Hasui favored throughout his landscape work. These Korean-subject prints are technically consistent with his Japanese work — [oban](/glossary/oban) format, [washi](/glossary/washi) substrate, water-based pigments, and sky gradation through [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) — but they introduced architectural details, such as the specific curvature of Korean eaves and the color conventions of dancheong decorative painting, that distinguished them from his domestic series. The prints represent an unusual chapter in Hasui's career and in the broader [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) movement's engagement with subjects outside Japan proper.



