Spring Evening at the Otemon Gate (Otemon no haru no yugure)
by Kawase Hasui
by Kawase Hasui
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 Evening at the Otemon Gate, published in 1952, depicts the main outer gate of Osaka Castle — the Otemon, rebuilt in 1628 as the castle's ceremonial western entrance — in the warmth of a spring evening when the gate's stone walls and massive wooden doors are softened by the ambient glow of late-day light and, likely, the presence of nearby cherry blossoms. The Otemon of Osaka Castle is one of Japan's most imposing surviving castle gate structures, and the spring evening setting gives Hasui an opportunity to combine historical architecture with the season's characteristic golden-hour warmth. The [oban](/glossary/oban) format provides space for both the gate's mass and the evening sky.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Spring Evening at the Otemon Gate (Otemon no haru no yugure) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in 1952.
Spring Evening at the Otemon Gate (Otemon no haru no yugure) uses Bokashi, on color woodblock print; oban.
Spring Evening at the Otemon Gate (Otemon no haru no yugure) was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1952).
Spring Evening at the Otemon Gate (Otemon no haru no yugure) depicts spring, night scenes, and architecture.
