The Shinagawa Offing — 品川？

This second Hasui print of the Shinagawa offing likely represents either a variant composition treating the same subject from a different vantage point or season, or a later edition with modified color blocks. Hasui returned to favored locations multiple times throughout his career, producing designs that respond to changes in weather, time of day, and seasonal light. Both prints address the open waters of Tokyo Bay in the vicinity of the historic Shinagawa harbor, with attention to sky, water surface, and vessel silhouettes characteristic of his marine subjects. Differences between the two designs may involve the angle of view, the number and type of vessels depicted, the palette—ranging from dawn pinks and golds to evening indigo—or the intensity of wave activity on the water surface. The Watanabe Shôzaburô publishing house issued multiple editions of popular Hasui subjects, sometimes with block recutting or color adjustments between printings. Taken together, the two Shinagawa offing prints demonstrate Hasui's practice of exhausting the compositional and tonal possibilities of a single location.