Hikawa Park Omiya - Kawase Hasui - Japanese Woodblock Ukiyo-e Art Painting Print - Posters

The night scenes are another famous subject for Hasui. They are usually kept in shades of blue mixed with gray colors. In many night scenes the light of the moon or from the windows of houses spreads warm yellow colors and is used for fine renderings and gradation to create light and shadow effects.

Hasui colored his sketches usually in the evening while sitting in an inn and enjoying his dinner and some sake. When he came home from his tours, he went through his sketches with the carver and printer. Watanabe himself made corrections every now and then. As the publisher responsible for the commercial success, he had his own ideas how a print should look like in order to sell.

Hasui once mentioned that he was often surprised himself about the final woodblock look in comparison to his sketches. According to him the woodblock print often looked better than his sketches, but sometimes he thought it was the other way around.