Futomi, Boso Peninsula

Born in Tokyo, Kawase Hasui initially studied Western-style painting under Okada Saburosuke at the Hakubakai group’s Aoibashi Western Painting Institute. He later shifted to Japanese-style painting as a pupil of Kaburaki Kiyokata and eventually focused on landscape prints under publisher Watanabe Shozaburo, earning acclaim both in Japan and abroad as a “painter of travel.” This print depicts Futomi, on the Pacific coast in southern Kamogawa City, Chiba. The torii gate is believed to belong to Kazashi Shrine, which enshrines the guardian deity of Futomi. The vivid blues of the sea and sky, set against the shadowed foreground, vividly convey the intensity of midsummer sunlight. A girl sits in the shade with a baby on her back, its red garment providing a striking visual accent. Hasui’s intricate rendering of waves and his adept use of color gradations make this work a triumph of the shin-hanga (lit. “new prints”) movement in which he played a leading role. (J.A.)