Hirato is a small island off the coast of Nagasaki Prefecture, historically significant as one of the first points of contact between Japan and European traders in the sixteenth century. The (A) variant of Saito's Hirato print likely shows the island's harbor district, where Dutch and Portuguese traders once maintained warehouses, or perhaps the small bridge connecting it to the mainland—a typically Saito subject of architectural and historical compression.
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.
Hirato Nagasaki (A) was created by Saito Kiyoshi (斎藤清).
Hirato Nagasaki (A) depicts landscapes, seascapes, and architecture, set at Nagasaki.
