Snow at Kiba (Kiba no yuki)
by Kawase Hasui
- Date:
- 1934
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; oban
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
by Kawase Hasui
Snow scenes represent Hasui's most valuable and technically innovative subject category — he developed specialized carving techniques specifically for depicting falling snow. These subjects carry a consistent 30–50% premium over comparable non-snow designs. Evening Snow at Kambara (a landmark design) achieved $7,200 at Tokyo auction (2024) for a Taisho-era impression. Pine Trees After Snow (first/limited edition) sold for $4,300 at Artelino (2021). Winter Moon over Toyama Moor, combining snow and night effects, reached $3,600 (2022). Pre-war lifetime editions bearing the Watanabe copyright seal (A through G types, 1926–1944) are the most desirable.
The Kiba lumber district in eastern Tokyo appears here under winter snow in this 1934 [oban](/glossary/oban) — the floating timber rafts and canal-side lumber sheds capped with white, the dark water of the canal picking up the reflection of snow-covered eaves. The Kiba snow composition shows the same industrial waterway district as Hasui's 1920 dusk print, now in winter and in the larger, more assured oban format of his mature work. By 1934 much of the Kiba lumber trade had declined, giving the snow scene an elegiac quality.
Woodblock print
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Yuki no Miyajima
1929
Color woodblock print; oban
1932
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Snow at Kiba (Kiba no yuki) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in 1934.
Snow at Kiba (Kiba no yuki) uses Bokashi, on color woodblock print; oban.
Snow at Kiba (Kiba no yuki) was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1934).
Snow at Kiba (Kiba no yuki) depicts snow scenes.
