Hasui | Soemoncho District in Osaka
川瀨巴水 Kawase Hasui ( 1883–1957)
日本風景集II 関西編 大坂宗右ェ門町の夕
Kansai edition: Soemoncho District in Osaka, from the series of Collection of scenic views of Japan II
1933
木版画 | 纵绘大大判 | 38.5cm x 26cm
Woodblock-print | Large Oban tate-e | 38.5cm x 26cm
第二版次；品相非常好
Second edition; very good condition
$5,200
“再见，再见，直到再来的那一天。”——《宗右卫门町布鲁斯》
《日本风景集（关西篇）》，是巴水于1933至1941年间创作的风景画系列。全套共计24幅，囊括了大阪、兵库、奈良、京都等日本关西多地的风景名胜，整体气质优雅而辽远。
宗右卫门町，位于大阪市中心区道顿堀北侧，是大阪南部著名的娱乐区之一。自江户时代起，此地就弥漫着浓厚的风月区气息；到19世纪中期更是进阶为了真正的花街；在整个明治大正期至昭和初期，宗右卫门町都是大阪南地五花街的重要组成部分。老字号茶屋与高级料亭鳞次栉比，各路玩家与众多艺伎们徜徉其间。“今晚去宗右卫门町”，俨然已是当时许多人的一种生活状态。
在巴水到访的年月里，宗右卫门町的境况已是颓态初露。但响彻街区的三味线和手鼓声，却又能让你的心持续地漂浮在这昏黄的夜里。画面最右的阴影里，一位艺伎与客人缱绻走过。他们身后茶屋内透出的灯光，又柔软的照亮了门前并肩而行的一双艺伎。屋檐下，排排的灯笼火跃动得正旺，二三层窗中的光亮内，传来的是一阵阵笑语欢声。宽阔的路面上散布着微醺的光影，随机参差的拓痕恍若脚步凌乱，形成了天鹅绒般的质感，为这幅旧时代的夜与光，增添着一丝梦幻。
Today the Soemoncho District of Osaka is known for its raucous and rollicking bar scene, but this nocturnal streetscape from 1933 is all calm and quiet. Then again, it is only dusk, day turning into night, so perhaps the noisy hours are still to come. Traditional Japan mixes with hints of the West. We have kimonos and lanterns, along with bowler hats and a telephone pole.
Nighttime scenes were always popular in Ukiyoe, such as this and this, but the improved woodblock printing technology of the Shin Hanga era allowed for even more nuanced portrayals of the noir world. Look how Hasui masterfully depicts the slanted light emerging from the open restaurant doors, and how it illuminates the edges of the geisha’s sashes and the black cloak of the solitary man a little bit further down the dark street.
The rows of orange-red lanterns slide away in diminishing perspective, casting their somber glow.
And in the sky we discern the last fading of the day. Here comes the Osaka night.
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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 in a purple kimono 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.