Towada — 十和田湖

Lake Towada (Towadako) is a twin-caldera lake straddling Aomori and Akita prefectures in the Tōhoku region, noted for exceptional water clarity and dense surrounding forest. Hasui made multiple visits and produced several prints of its landscape. This composition likely depicts the lake from a characteristic vantage — perhaps the forested headland at Nakayamasaki or a view across toward the Ohanabe cliffs — using broad graduated washes of blue-grey and deep green to convey the lake's stillness. The surrounding beech and oak forests, brilliant in autumn, translate into layered color blocks of sienna, ochre, and deep crimson. Towada's remoteness gave Hasui's prints of the site a quieter quality than his more touristic Fuji or Kyoto subjects. Printed on washi at the Watanabe workshop using mineral pigments and the standard shin-hanga multi-block technique.