
Shikishimagawara, Maebashi (Maebashi Shikishimagawara)
by Kawase Hasui

by Kawase Hasui
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.
Shikishimagawara at Maebashi is the gravel riverbed of the Tone River near the Gunma capital, a broad pebbly strand where the river braids through channels during dry seasons. This 1942 print likely shows the wide riverbed in late season — the channels low, the gravel banks exposed, the distant mountains of the Gunma highlands on the horizon. The broad, flat Tone River scenery near Maebashi offered Hasui a wide-sky composition suited to the expansive Kanto plain.

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.
Shikishimagawara, Maebashi (Maebashi Shikishimagawara) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in 1942.
Shikishimagawara, Maebashi (Maebashi Shikishimagawara) was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1942).
Shikishimagawara, Maebashi (Maebashi Shikishimagawara) depicts landscapes, rivers & lakes, and mountains.