Tochinoki Hot Springs in Higo Province (Higo Tochinoki onsen), from the series Selected Views of Japan (Nihon fûkei senshû)

Published within Hasui's "Nihon Fukei Senshu" (Selected Views of Japan) series, this print formally identifies the Tochinoki Onsen by its provincial name, placing the Higo (Kumamoto) subject within the broader geographical and cultural framework of a curated national landscape survey. The "Selected Views" series was among Hasui's most carefully produced publications under the Watanabe Shozaburo atelier, printed in oban format with the nuanced color transitions that established his reputation in the shin-hanga movement. The Tochinoki Onsen composition would show the inn and bathing facilities integrated into the valley topography, with the surrounding mountain ridgelines creating the enclosed, sheltered feeling characteristic of deep-gorge hot spring locations. Hasui's direct observation of site-specific light conditions — the green-filtered light of forested slopes, the reflective quality of mineral-rich spring water — gave his onsen subjects a documentary specificity distinguishing them from generic landscape production.