Shirahone Hotspring, Shinshu

Shirahone Onsen sits high in the Japanese Alps southwest of Matsumoto, named for the milky-white sulfurous waters that give bathers' skin a pale cast (its name means 'white bone'). Kasamatsu's print most likely shows the steep gorge setting with wooden ryokan buildings tucked into the slope, steam rising from open-air baths, and the surrounding cedar forest in deep greens. Compositions of this kind in his oeuvre rely heavily on bokashi gradations to render mist and steam, and on overprinting to build the dense saturation of evergreens. Shirahone belongs to a series of Shinshu spa subjects Kasamatsu produced for Unsodo in the 1950s, working in the self-published sosaku-hanga manner without Watanabe's editorial oversight. The choice of an interior, mountain-bound resort over the more conventional coastal or temple scene is characteristic of his quieter late landscapes.