Night views with moonlight and lantern effects carry a 20–30% premium over comparable daytime scenes. The dramatic tonal contrasts required for nocturnal subjects make impression quality especially important — fine examples from pre-war printings show a depth of color that later editions rarely match. Prints with well-preserved black areas and accurate moonlight bokashi command the highest prices. Postwar lifetime editions (1946–1957) bearing the small 6mm J-seal represent authentic lifetime impressions but from the artist's final decade.
Spring Dusk at the Tosho Shrine in Ueno, published in 1948, depicts the Tosho-gu shrine within Ueno Park at the transitional moment between late afternoon and evening in spring — the shrine's elaborate gilt and lacquered facade visible through the cherry blossom haze or the first deep blue of evening settling over the ancient stone lanterns that line the shrine's approach. The Ueno Tosho-gu, built in 1627 in honor of the first Tokugawa shogun, is among Tokyo's most ornate surviving Edo-period architectural ensembles, and its spring evening atmosphere carries both the season's warmth and the solemnity of early night.
Woodblock print
1928
Color lithograph
1930
Color lithograph
1930s
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in 1948.
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno uses Bokashi, on woodblock print, ink and color on paper.
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1948).
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno depicts urban scenes, temples & shrines, and spring, set at Ueno.
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno measures 36.4 × 24.1 cm (Oban format).
