The Garden Viewed from a Western-Style Building (Yokan yori teien o nozomu)
by Kawase Hasui
by Kawase Hasui
A Taisho-era print (pre-1924) from Hasui's formative period with Watanabe Shozaburo. The Kanto Earthquake of September 1, 1923 destroyed Watanabe's workshop and the majority of early woodblocks, making surviving pre-earthquake impressions among the rarest in Hasui's entire output. The small round Watanabe seal (5.5–7.1mm, hand-carved) is the most reliable indicator of a pre-earthquake impression, though seal size alone is not definitive. Professional authentication is recommended for high-value examples.
The garden seen from a Western-style building — an architectural pairing unusual in early Hasui — shows a Japanese garden viewed through a Western window or from a veranda of a Meiji-era Western building. This 1920 print uses [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations to render the garden's landscape in the style of a Japanese woodblock while framing it within the vocabulary of Western domestic architecture. The subject likely reflects the Japan of 1920 in which Western and Japanese spatial concepts coexisted.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
The Garden Viewed from a Western-Style Building (Yokan yori teien o nozomu) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in 1920.
The Garden Viewed from a Western-Style Building (Yokan yori teien o nozomu) uses Bokashi, on color woodblock print.
The Garden Viewed from a Western-Style Building (Yokan yori teien o nozomu) was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1920).
The Garden Viewed from a Western-Style Building (Yokan yori teien o nozomu) depicts architecture and gardens.
