Amakusa Honryo
1937
Kawase Hasui was a master of capturing the quiet, nostalgic soul of Japan just before modernization swept it away. In this serene 1937 scene, a soft pink dusk settles over a coastal village, likely on the Amakusa islands. We see a mother carrying a child on her back, walking alongside another child along a stone wall, heading home past traditional thatched roofs. Hasui was a leading figure of the shin-hanga (new print) movement, a form of Japanese modernism that blended traditional woodblock techniques with Western ideas of light and atmosphere—notice how that beautiful gradient sky reflects on the water. He traveled thousands of miles across Japan to sketch these scenes, essentially preserving a vanishing world for us to enjoy today.
- Technique
- Woodblock print
- Material
- Paper
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