Nikko bridge in the snow

Depicts the Shinkyo, the vermillion-lacquered sacred bridge at Nikko spanning the Daiya River. The bridge's red lacquer set against snow-laden trees and falling flakes provides the kind of color contrast Hasui exploited throughout his snow series. Nicknamed the Artist of Snow, Hasui returned to snowscapes regularly, finding in them an opportunity for the printer to apply karazuri (blind embossing) for snow texture, gofun-loaded inks for flake highlights, and bokashi for the muted gray-blue light over the river. Nikko, the Tokugawa shogunate mausoleum complex and a major pilgrimage site, had been a standard subject in earlier ukiyo-e meisho-e (famous-place prints), and Hasui's treatment continues that documentary lineage while reworking it through the shin-hanga emphasis on observed light and weather. Snow scenes constituted a significant portion of his published output and were among the prints that established his reputation in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s.