Art of Ukiyoe

A Master’s Last Picture

What was Hiroshige’s last design? How about Hokusai, or Utamaro?

What was the final image these great artists completed the day or the moment before they left this Earth? We will never know. We can estimate through research those which were among their final designs, sure, but identifying the exact one with any certainty is nearly impossible.

But that’s not so in the 20th Century, and it’s not so in the case of the great Kawase Hasui.

For my new featured print, I’m taking a look at Hasui’s last design -- Konjiki Hall at Hiraizumi. It was published in a small edition by Shozaburo Watanabe distributed 100 days after he died in 1957.

This example, which is in perfect condition and comes from the original blocks, dates from 1979. Like the first run, it is numbered – this is 87 out of 350. A subsequent edition with a “Heisei” seal printed after 1989 also had a run of 350. Numbering prints was one of many elements borrowed from Western print makers after Japan was “opened.”

The Konjiki-dō – or “The Golden Hall” -- is a small building that is part of the Chūson-ji temple in the town of Hiraizumi in Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan. It’s still there and gives the visitor a sense of what this storied compound looked like in 1124, when it was completed. The steps leading up to it are just as Hasui portrayed them.

The temple was included in the World Natural and Cultural Heritage List in 2011. In the Golden Hall, 31 statues are designated as national treasures.

Hasui started work on this design on May 14, 1957. He was already seriously ill. After Hasui completed the first draft on May 31, Watanabe put the print into production, with all the elements in place by September 3.

But Hasui died on November 27, age 74, before publication. Thus, Watanabe arranged for Hasui’s wife to distribute the print on the 100th day after the great artist’s death.