Suo Murotsu

This variant impression of the Suo Murotsu harbor composition shares its subject with the primary printing but may reflect differences in color block registration, ink density, or atmospheric tone. Murotsu harbor's wooden warehouses, stone quays, and moored vessels offered Hasui a layered compositional arrangement of architectural and marine elements typical of his port subjects. In shin-hanga production, multiple impression runs from the same blocks could yield perceptible variations in the warmth or coolness of sky tones and in the saturation of water reflections. Comparing this impression to the primary state may reveal differences in the rendering of distant shoreline or the treatment of the sky gradation. Such variants are valuable for understanding the print production and colorist practices at Watanabe's workshop.