Zaimoku Isalnd, Matsushima, from the series "Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition" (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen, Matsushima Zaimokuto)
by Kawase Hasui
by Kawase Hasui
Zaimoku Island, Matsushima (Matsushima Zaimokutō), from Kawase Hasui's Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen) of 1933, depicts one of the pine-clad islands in the bay of Matsushima on the Pacific coast of Tohoku. Matsushima had long been celebrated as one of the three classical scenic views of Japan, with its bay of small wooded islands repeatedly described in poetry and depicted in painting and earlier ukiyo-e. Hasui isolates a single island, Zaimokutō, and aligns its silhouette against the lighter mass of sea and sky, in keeping with his preference for concentrated, calmly observed compositions. The print was produced by publisher Watanabe Shozaburo's Tokyo workshop, where the carvers translated the pine foliage, rock formations, and water into multiple registered blocks, and the printers used bokashi gradations to model the changing tonality between water and sky. The Art Institute of Chicago, which preserves this impression, situates the print within the 1933 Eastern Japan Edition that gathered Hasui's northern landscape designs into a coherent regional series. By choosing a quieter, less-known island within the celebrated bay, Hasui distinguishes his image from the encyclopedic catalogs of Matsushima views compiled by earlier ukiyo-e designers and reframes the scenic site through the contemplative idiom characteristic of shin-hanga. The print exemplifies how the movement's mature production reconciled classical Japanese scenic tradition with modern observational habits, sustained by the workshop practices that bound Hasui's design, the carvers' craftsmanship, and Watanabe's editorial vision into a single artistic enterprise.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Zaimoku Isalnd, Matsushima, from the series "Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition" (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen, Matsushima Zaimokuto) was created by Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) in May 1933.
Yes — Zaimoku Isalnd, Matsushima, from the series "Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition" (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen, Matsushima Zaimokuto) is part of the Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition series by Kawase Hasui.
Zaimoku Isalnd, Matsushima, from the series "Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition" (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen, Matsushima Zaimokuto) uses Bokashi, on color woodblock print.
Zaimoku Isalnd, Matsushima, from the series "Collection of Scenic Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition" (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen, Matsushima Zaimokuto) depicts landscapes and famous places (meisho-e), set at Matsushima.
