Saru Crag, Shiobara (Shiobara Saruiwa)

Date:: 1949
Medium:: Color woodblock print
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. This postwar design (1946–1957) bears the small 6mm J-seal on lifetime impressions — authentic but from the artist's final decade, when block quality had declined from peak period.

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

Saru (Monkey) Crag at Shiobara is a volcanic rock formation in the Houki River gorge, its dark andesite surface draped with ferns and mosses above the rushing stream. This 1949 print captures the crag in its gorge setting — a close-in view of the volcanic rock and the river below, with the surrounding forest providing the deep green backdrop common to Hasui's Shiobara compositions. The Shiobara gorge subjects from the late 1940s and early 1950s reflect his sustained engagement with this mountain onsen area.