Snow at Funabori

A third variant or impression of the Funabori snow subject, this woodblock print captures the low-lying, canal-laced neighborhood in eastern Tokyo under winter conditions. Funabori retained a character associated with older Edo-period Tokyo well into the twentieth century, and Hasui's repeated return to the subject reflects both its pictorial richness and its resonance as a record of a disappearing urban landscape. Snow accumulation on rooftops and along canal embankments provided Hasui with structural horizontal and diagonal elements to organize the composition, while the canal surface — rendered in grey-blue tones built through careful multi-block printing — reflects the overcast winter sky. Impressions of this type printed by the Watanabe workshop during the 1930s and 1940s are distinguished from later reprints by the quality of the bokashi gradations and the depth of color in the shadow areas.