The Hori River, Obama, from the series Souvenirs of Travel, First Series

This print of the Hori River at Obama represents Hasui's depiction of the same subject from the Souvenirs of Travel, First Series—one of the earliest travel publications issued by Watanabe Shōzaburō in collaboration with Hasui. Obama, a small harbor town in Fukui Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast, offered Hasui the vernacular canal waterways and provincial timber architecture typical of Japan's older regional towns. The horikawa's still surface would mirror the overhanging eaves of the surrounding buildings, a compositional device Hasui employed across many of his urban waterway subjects to create a sense of compressed vertical space. Washi ground absorbs the layered pigments applied through baren pressure with particular softness, reinforcing the quiet, late-afternoon mood Hasui characteristically favored for his canal subjects. Early printings of this series are distinguished by a delicacy of tonal range that reflects close collaboration between Hasui's design and Watanabe's experienced block cutters and printers.