Details

This idyllic scene shows a horse-drawn cart with a workman hunched over on the wagon, fast asleep. Giant stacks of bamboo obscure most of the background, but there is a break, and one can see past the river to the village on the other side. Perhaps this scene best conveys the memory of gentile and quiet summer days of a long-gone era. Hasui wrote the following commentary on this design:

“This is from a sketch that I made one summer afternoon in the front of a bamboo shop at the Komagata Riverbank in Asakusa. One is able to see the other side of the river through the bamboo stalks, which are stacked side-by-side, and in the shape of a half-opened fan. I thought the mood conveyed by the horse standing listlessly and the drayman slumbering on his dray was very summer-like”.

Connoisseur's Note

As with all pre-earthquake prints, this design is among the rarest works in shin hanga, as the earthquake destroyed Watanabe’s studio along with the original blocks and unsold inventory. Only prints sold before the earthquake and removed from Tokyo, as most of the city was destroyed by the ensuing fires, survived. This is an exceedingly rare opportunity to own a stunning Hasui design with fresh and vivid colors in its original state.