Nagatoro

Nagatoro, in Saitama Prefecture's Chichibu region, is a stretch of the Arakawa river known for its iwadatami — broad shelves of crystalline schist that the river has carved into geometric terraces. The site was designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument in 1924 and attracted painters and printmakers throughout the twentieth century. Hashimoto's print likely treats the rock formations as the central subject, his structural eye finding in the natural geometry of the schist a counterpart to the constructed geometries of his castle and temple prints. The composition probably contrasts the angular dark masses of stone with the lighter passage of water, executed in flat color planes characteristic of his mature manner. As a sosaku-hanga artist he designed, carved, and printed every block himself, working on washi with a baren rather than delegating production to professional carvers and printers as the parallel shin-hanga movement preferred. The print extends his inquiry into structural form into the realm of geological subject.