Tomogashima In Wakanoura — 観光地百選 和歌の浦、友ヶ島島

This print depicts Tomogashima, an uninhabited island group at the mouth of Wakayama Bay, adjacent to the historically celebrated coastal area of Wakanoura. The series title 観光地百選 identifies this as part of a mid-20th century series documenting one hundred selected tourist destinations across Japan. Wakanoura has been referenced in waka poetry since the Man'yoshu anthology as a place of exceptional scenic beauty, and Tomogashima — known for its early Meiji brick lighthouse and forested coastline — extends this poetic geography offshore. Hasui's composition likely captures the island across an expanse of water, with the lighthouse silhouette visible above pine-covered slopes. The coastal setting allows for the layered gradations of sea and sky that characterize his mature landscape work, with horizontal color bands distinguishing near-shore shallows from deeper water and the graduated atmosphere beyond the island's ridgeline providing spatial depth characteristic of his developed compositional approach.