Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series: Kozu, Osaka (Tabi miyage dai sanshu: Osaka Kozu)

Part of the Tabi miyage dai sanshu (Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series) published by Watanabe Shozaburo circa 1922, this print depicts Kozu in Osaka, a district adjacent to the ancient Shitennoji temple complex and historically networked with the city's canal system. Hasui typically rendered urban Osaka through its low-slung rooflines, narrow waterways, and overcast or evening skies, emphasizing the worn texture of a working city rather than its monuments. The meisho-e tradition of depicting named places is here filtered through shin-hanga sensibilities: nuanced bokashi gradations in the sky, close attention to reflected light on water, and a compositional quietude that distinguishes Hasui's work from the more dramatic framing of earlier ukiyo-e landscape masters. This impression represents the standard color state of the design, as distinguished from the purple-horizon variant of the same composition.