Kawase Hasui
Hasui’s Suhara, Kiso (fig. 3) is exemplary of these ideals. Underneath looming mountains in the background, a small village is deluged with rain, likely during the evening. A road cuts between the buildings, and a tiny figure can be seen near the end of it, perhaps holding an umbrella to shield themself from the rain. There are two lights on in the windows of two houses, and the light reflects on the wet street. The yellow of these lights attract the eye to the figure and the buildings, which are clearly meant to be the focal point. The trees in the foreground seem to be bent over with the force of the wind and rain. The color palette is dark and heavy, mostly a mix of dark greens, blues, and grays. The insignificance of the figure in comparison with the landscape and the sheer force of the weather – indicated by the diagonal, slightly curved lines representing rain that draw the eye down across the image – truly demonstrates Hasui’s desire to romanticize the magnificence of the countryside.
Mount Unzen, Hizen (fig. 4), created three years later, is beautifully vibrant. Mount Unzen overlooks a pristine lake upon which three boats are floating. Slender trees line the foreground, slightly obscuring the view of the lake, while clouds hover in the distance behind the mountains. In reality, Mount Unzen is a group of active composite volcanos, though there is nothing in this print that indicates the destructive force that lurks beneath the surface. The colors are perfectly registered, with gradients of blue in both the sky and the lake. The reddish brown of the mountaintops draws the eye upwards to the top of the print. The viewer’s eye is then directed horizontally across the print, following the movement of the wispy clouds that hang in the air in front of the mountains.
[1] Helen Merritt, Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990), 54.
