Castle

This generic title, untethered to a specific site, suggests one of Hashimoto's more abstracted architectural studies -- a print in which the formal elements of a castle (white plaster keep, dark tile roofs, angled gables, stone foundation) take precedence over identification of the actual building. Such generalized castle subjects appear periodically in his output and allowed him to concentrate on the visual rhythms of Japanese fortification architecture without the documentary obligation of a named site. The composition would likely isolate the keep against a flat color sky, with bokashi gradations modulating the background and foreground. Carved knife lines define the geometry of the eaves and stone courses, registered cleanly on washi with the baren. Hashimoto's commitment to sosaku-hanga principles meant such prints, however simplified, were entirely his own from sketch through final pull. Compared to his named-castle prints, the untitled or generically titled examples often appear in smaller editions and circulate less in the secondary market.