Regarded as one of the great Japanese landscape artists of the twentieth century, Kawase Hasui aspired to be an artist from a young age but due to family circumstances it was not until 1908 (age 25) that he requested an apprenticeship with Kaburaki Kiyokata (1878-1972). Considered too old to apprentice, he was rejected and temporarily studied Western art at
Hakubakai Aoibashi Western Painting Research Institute. However, he was finally accepted as Kiyokata's pupil in 1910, aged 27. In 1918 Hasui attended an exhibition where he saw the woodblock landscape series by Ito Shinsui (1898-1972) Eight Views of Omi Province which influenced him greatly, and he developed an interested in woodblock printing. He applied to Watanabe Shozaburo to be a fukei-ga (landscape) artist, beginning a long collaboration between the two. He also did limited work for several other publishers including Doi Sadaichi and Sakai-Kawaguchi.
A pivotal moment came with the Great Kanto earthquake and fire of 1923, when Hasui's house and Watanabe's shop in Kyobashi were destroyed. Hasui's 188 sketchbooks, along with the majority of his prints and woodblocks were lost. However, as Tokyo began to recover, Hasui started travelling once again for sketching, and Watanabe also worked to rebuild his business.
Hasui's landscapes convey a tranquil beauty imbued with Japanese tradition. Architectural details of temples, castles and dwellings are keenly rendered, or bucolic scenes from around Japan sympathetically depicted. To these compositions compelling atmospheric conditions were often added, such as falling snow or rain, to romanticise the scene and dramatise the mood. Often placing seemingly insignificant figures within monumental landscapes - through which the viewer can imagine him or herself, as well as conveying the monumental nature of tthe scene. Also a master of capturing the interplay of light and shadow - setting his scenes at different times of day and using shading and colour to convey shadows cast by moonlight, or the brightness of the sun on a spring day.