Shinto Shrine of Kasuga at Nara
Artist: Kawase Hasui
Name: Shinto Shrine of Kasuga at Nara
Date: 1933
Description: Saturday, 14 March 2009 KAWASE HASUI Front Gate of Kasuga Shrine at Nara Date: 1936 Size: 9.5″ x 14″ Condition: VG, some creasing to presentation board (not on the print), calendar cover is detached, mounted on original presentation board Impression: VG Color: VG Documentation: Kawase Hasui — The Complete Woodblock Prints, Hotei, 2003, page 450 print #H-317-A The following is paraphrased from an article posted on ukiyoe-gallery.com and is used with the kind permission of the author. For collectors of prints by the twentieth century Japanese woodblock artist Kawase Hasui, the 1933 image titled Kasuga Shrine at Nara, and published by Watanabe, is a well known masterpiece. As such, it is among a handful of highly sought-after “red temple” images coveted by collectors. Much more rare, however, is the look-alike print published by Shimbi Shoin between 1933 and 1936 (at auction here) titled Front Gate of Kasuga Shrine at Nara. Althought this “Winter Kasuga” bears no title, date, or any publisher’s identification directly on it, we know from a label attached to the back of its presentation board, that it was commissioned by the Japanese Government Railways and printed by the Tokyo publisher Shimbi Shoin. Also interesting for collectors is that this quite rare Hasui print does not bear the usual Hasui signature and seal combination (the large red circle with 3 tear-drops inside, with Hasui’s signature above in black). Instead, Hasui used a tiny, rather unusual red oval “Ha-Sui” seal to identify himself. This horizonatal format red oval seal is similar to the vertical-format red oval “Ha-Sui” seal seen on Watanabe-published postcard-size prints.
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