Shinkawa at night
by Kawase Hasui
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- The Art of Japan
- Image courtesy of
- The Art of Japan
Description
Shinkawa, a canal district in central Tokyo that served as a commercial waterway for goods entering the city from the bay, became one of Hasui's signature nocturnal subjects. This print shows the canal after dark, when the warehouses lining its banks are reduced to dark silhouettes and lamplight reflects in broken horizontal bands across the water. The night palette is restricted — deep indigo or black for the sky, warm amber or pale yellow for lantern reflections, dark gray-brown for the wooden storehouses. Hasui's mastery of nocturnal bokashi gradations is evident in the way the sky transitions from dense black overhead to a slightly lighter tone at the horizon, creating depth without the aid of direct light sources.
More Prints by Kawase Hasui
More Night Scenes Prints
Evening in East Africa
Woodblock print
Evening Shower at Teradomari (Teradomari no yau), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"
Teradomari no yau
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Shinkawa at night was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水).
Shinkawa at night depicts night scenes.