The Banks of the Kano River, Kyoto

This print depicts a riverside scene along the Kano River in Kyoto, rendered in the atmospheric landscape manner central to Hasui's shin-hanga output. Kyoto's rivers—characterized by stone embankments, overhanging willow and maple trees, and the traditional machiya townscape visible from the water—offered compositions in which architectural verticality contrasts with the horizontal flow of the current. The scene likely shows the river at a quiet hour, its surface carrying reflections of foliage, sky, or the pale forms of stone embankment walls. Seasonal mood would have determined the palette: the greens of summer, the russet tones of autumn maples, or the gray stillness of overcast winter. The print was produced through the shin-hanga collaborative method, with Hasui's design sketch executed by the specialist carvers and printers of the Watanabe Shōzaburō workshop, who built the image's atmospheric depth through successive impressions of diluted pigment on dampened washi.