Shinbeshi Bikuni

The title combines Shinbetsu (a locale in Hokkaido) with "bikuni," the Japanese term for a Buddhist nun. This print likely depicts a nun — a solitary figure in dark robes — within a spare northern landscape, possibly a snow-covered temple precincts or a coastal path. Hokkaido subjects gave Hasui opportunities for austere compositions with reduced color palettes: gray skies, white ground, and the dark vertical of a figure or pine. The contrast between the spiritual stillness implied by the nun's presence and the severity of a Hokkaido winter setting is characteristic of Hasui's approach to figure-in-landscape prints. The washi ground would absorb the muted grays and blues typical of his northern snow scenes.