Fantasy of the Sea (Umibe no genso)

Created in 1948, early in Shinagawa's career, this color woodblock print transforms the coastal landscape into an imaginative vision. The Japanese subtitle, Umibe no genso, frames the sea not as a realistic subject but as a catalyst for fantasy. Shinagawa reimagines the shoreline through the expressive freedom of sosaku-hanga, where the artist's subjective response to nature takes precedence over topographic accuracy. The postwar period, when this print was made, saw Japanese artists seeking new relationships with landscape after years of militaristic imagery. The sea, as a site of both beauty and destruction, carried layered meanings. Shinagawa's "fantasy" approach suggests a deliberate turn away from literal representation toward a personal, internally generated vision of the coastal world, rendered through the carved-line vocabulary of woodblock printing.