Snow at Godaido Temple in Matsushima (Matsushima Godaido no yuki)

The Godaido is a small Momoyama-period Buddhist hall perched on a rocky islet in Matsushima Bay, reached by two short wooden bridges. Matsushima, counted among Japan's three celebrated views (nihon sankei), was a subject Hasui revisited across multiple seasons. This winter composition likely frames the hall from the shoreline, its curved eaves loaded with snow and the surrounding pine-dotted islets muted under overcast winter light. The gray-blue bay occupies much of the lower register, rendered flat and calm through horizontal key-block carving. Graduated bokashi in blue-gray tones unifies the sky and water, while dense white pigment conveys accumulated snow on the temple roof and the rocky outcroppings below. The meisho-e tradition of depicting famous places underlies the composition, though Hasui's shin-hanga approach foregrounds atmospheric depth over geographic documentation. The print belongs to the landscape series celebrating Japan's canonical scenic sites that Watanabe Shozaburo and successor publishers issued throughout Hasui's career.