The humid warmth of a Japanese summer night pervades this atmospheric Watanabe-published composition. Lifetime editions sell for $1,000-$2,500. Summer nocturnes are less common in Kasamatsu's output than autumn or winter night scenes, giving this seasonal variant added interest for collectors seeking to represent the full cycle of seasons in his work.
A summer night extends its darkness over a Japanese landscape, the heat of the day finally relenting as stars emerge or the moon rises to cast its cooler light. Kasamatsu's summer night scenes explore the specific visual conditions of warm-season darkness — the way darkness in summer retains a quality of warmth, the way insects and tree frogs animate the silence, the way artificial light in windows or lanterns reads against a night that never fully darkens in the summer months. The composition conveys the sensory richness of a Japanese summer night.
Woodblock print
Teradomari no yau
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Summer Night was created by Shiro Kasamatsu (笠松紫浪).
Summer Night uses Bokashi, Nishiki-e, and Moku-hanga, on woodblock print.
Summer Night was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Summer Night depicts night scenes and summer.
