Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series: Hinomisaki, Izumo (Tabi miyage dai sanshu: Izumo Hinomisaki)

Cape Hinomisaki (Hinomisaki) on the western tip of the Shimane Peninsula in Izumo is one of Japan's most westerly promontories, known for its lighthouse—the tallest stone lighthouse in Japan—and its rugged cliffs above the open Sea of Japan. Hasui's composition from this vantage would emphasize the interplay of land, sea, and sky at the horizon, with the lighthouse structure rising as a vertical anchor against the expanse. The cliff-edge perspective common at such headlands allowed him to drop a foreground of exposed rock and breaking surf below a wide, often cloudless sky. The Hinomisaki Shrine, dedicated to Amaterasu, also occupies the cape, and shrine architecture may appear within the composition. This print from the Tabi miyage dai sanshu series demonstrates Hasui's coastal subjects at their most expansive, where the horizontal mass of ocean dominates the lower register and the sky carries the tonal work.