An original watercolour of a calm moonlit-evening scene of boats moored at the water’s edge alongside the town of Itako, present-day Ibaraki Prefecture. Hasui has captured the atmosphere of the scene with a skilful use of colour to depict the moon reflecting in the dark green water in which the reflections of the trees, boats and buildings also ripple gently. A lone elderly woman makes her way along the path beside the boats carrying a basket of what could be daikon vegetables. As can be Hasui’s trademark, the inclusion of a solitary figure adds an emotional depth to the work.

The painting is based upon the print Evening at Itako (Itako no yu), published by Sakai-Kawaguchi in 1930, an impression of which is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, reference no. 1962.1038 (go to

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/15934/dusk-at-itako-itako-no-yu). The print has some slight compositional differences including a small child walking with the old woman as well as clothes hanging out to dry along the pathway, but the freedom allowed by paint and brush in the present work has given Hasui the opportunity to show off his ability to convey the mood of the scene with a highly perceptive use of colour, imbuing the painting with a depth which is slightly lacking in the printed version.

Aside from Hasui’s sizeable print output extant today, various types of hand-executed works by him also exist. One type are watercolours which were preliminary paintings for a print designs, which would be based upon sketches made usually in pencil in Tokyo or on travels around Japan (and on one occasion to Korea). However, such works were often sketched outside and on location, or soon afterwards, and are not the type of large-scale finished work presented here. This type of larger painting would more likely have been created for exhibition purposes, or on request by a collector who admired his prints, as a means to supplement his income.

Other Hasui watercolours can be found in various international museum collections including the collection of the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington (go to: https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/collections/search/?edan_q=hasui) and the Edo-Tokyo Museum.