川瀬巴水　日光神橋　新版画　昭和期

Snow blows incessantly from the top right of this print across the entire page, which depicts the bright red Sacred Bridge at the entrance to the religious complex in Nikkō, in Tochigi Prefecture. The scene closely resembles the actual area, but Kawase Hasui’s use of a limited palette renders the view mesmerizing. Nikkō houses the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, which controlled Japan during the Edo period (1615–1868). Hasui is one of the more famous artists who worked in Shin Hanga, the so-called new tradition of woodblock prints, which continued the workshop tradition of earlier printmaking but often combined it with Western approaches, such as naturalism and individuality of style.