Ukijima, Ryujo, Ibaragi, Ukishima- Yanaginawa

A second version of Hasui's Ukishima, Ryujo, Ibaraki composition, this print depicts the willow-edged canals and marsh terrain of the Ibaraki coastal plain. The Ukishima area's name — floating island — describes elevated ground surrounded by wetlands, while Yanaginawa references the willow-bordered waterways threading through the low ground. Willows (yanagi) provide the primary vertical compositional elements against the broad horizontal landscape, their trailing branches printed with fluid carved line against open sky. Hasui's treatment of still or gently moving canal water in this type of flat landscape involved extensive bokashi gradation blocks for both sky and water surfaces, the two mirrors meeting at a low horizon. As a second printing or alternate state, this version may differ from its companions in sky coloration, the seasonal rendering of willow foliage, or minor differences in the registration of water reflection passages — variations typical of the multi-decade reprint history of successful Watanabe Shozaburo publications.