Hasui | Konjiki Hall at Hiraizumi
川瀨巴水 Kawase Hasui ( 1883–1957)
平泉金色堂
Konjiki Hall at Hiraizumi
1957
木版画 | 纵绘大大判 | 39 x 26cm
Woodblock-print | Large Oban tate -e | 39 x 26cm
品相非常好；初版由渡边庄三郎于1957年出版，此版由每日新闻社于1979年发行，背面带有限量版印章（限量版350枚的第87枚）
Great condition；The first edition was published by Watanabe Shozaburo in 1957, this edition was published by Mainichi Newspaper Company in 1979, with the limited edition seal on reverse(350 limited edition, number 87)
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平泉，日本东北部岩手县的一座小城，人口不足万人；但在平安时代末期，此地可是物阜民丰，伽蓝林立，是仅次于京都的第二大都市。如今，却只有一座座苍凉幽深的古迹，无声地诉说着往日的辉煌。
说起平泉的古迹，中尊寺定是绕不开的。这座千年古寺不仅是日本的特别史迹，还在2011年被列入世界自然文化遗产名录；而其中的金色堂，更是赫赫有名的日本国宝建筑。在金色堂内，31尊造像皆被定为国宝，其余国宝文物亦有数十件之多，而重要文化财更是超过四十件。金色之堂，名副其实。
巴水曾多次到访金色堂，并以此为主题创作了两幅作品：一幅为1935年创作的《平泉中尊寺金色堂》；另一幅则为今日欣赏的这幅1957年创作的《平泉金色堂》。论名气与热度，后者都远远大于前者。毕竟，人们总是津津乐道于那些富有传奇色彩的作品，而在这幅版画上，恰恰有着清晰的“绝笔”二字。1957年5月14日，巴水开始创作此画，那时的他已经病重；在5月31日完成初稿后，版元渡边庄三郎开始了后续的制作，于9月3日完成了上色工作；但巴水最终还是没能等到发表的那一天。11月27日，旅情诗人巴水去世，享年74岁。此画即也成为了他真正意义上的绝笔之作。
虽然时隔二十余年，但巴水的两幅金色堂构图是如此相似：在两侧高大的古杉之间，是一条幽幽的古道；沿坡而上，层层石阶通往着不远处的金色堂。可是在绝笔之作中，一切的景观都披上了银装，在石阶上，还有一位僧人正冒雪前行。天外是灰蒙蒙，空中是雪重重。克制冷静的色调，只见背影的僧人，再加上“绝笔”的心理暗示，都令人只觉凄清孤寂，一种离别的氛围不由得笼罩心头，“死亡”之联想，也似乎理所应当。
在世人的前方，是巴水留下的背影；而在他的前方，是象征着永恒归宿的金色堂。
“五月雨茫茫，莫非避开未曾降，光堂（金色堂）犹辉煌。”——松尾芭蕉
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Kawase Hasui (1883–1957)
Kawase Hasui is perhaps the single most recognized woodblock artist of the Shin Hanga – new print – movement in the early- to mid-20th Century. Because he specialized in landscapes, many would say he was a successor to Hiroshige, noting his enveloping portrayals of nature, and his thoughtful placement of humans within them. But that would be too easy, because Hiroshige and Hasui in many ways could not be more different.
Whereas Hiroshige played with flat plains of negative space, Hasui embraced Western painting styles – if not techniques – to display water reflections, shadows and shades of light in all its combinations. You can easily discern the time of day and season from the light. Signs of the 20th Century Japan are everywhere – rickshaws, cars, telephone poles, steamships, even western-style umbrellas and rain slickers. Yes, he embraced snow and rain scenes like Hiroshige, and many famous views, but they live in a three-dimensional, modern world.
His prints are hugely sought-after today, with condition being extremely important to collectors. Many of the original woodblocks were destroyed in the Great Earthquake of 1923; finding examples of those pre-quake prints is challenging, indeed.
He was born Bunjiro Kawase in Tokyo in 1883, the son of a merchant. Hasui studied Japanese-style painting with Kiyokata and Western painting at the Hakubakai. He exhibited his first painting at 19. The publisher Shozaburo Watanabe – seeing the appeal of woodblock prints to the Western tourists then flooding Japan – took Hasui under his wing. The young man travelled widely to capture landscapes, making sketches as he went. Looking at the detail and perspective in some of his prints, one wonders: did he work from photographs as well?
Hasui’s Zojoji Temple in Snow – with a woman pushing against the furious snow with a traditional umbrella -- has been named an Intangible Cultural Treasure, the greatest artistic honor in postwar Japan. He died in 1957.
The publishers Doi, Kawaguchi, Sakai and others also produced some Hasui works. Learning to read the seals on the prints, and therefore dating them, takes time but is well worth it. If you can find this book at a reasonable price, go for it. It’s all there.