Hasui Kawase – { feuilleton }

Fourteen views of Himeji Castle

Himeji Castle, Evening (1926) by Hiroshi Yoshida.

If you’ve ever seen Akira Kurosawa’s Ran then you’ve seen Himeji Castle inside as well as out, a memorable sight not only for its vast size—the castle is the largest in Japan—but also for its brilliant white facade. Despite the building’s great age and importance it doesn’t seem to have been a popular subject for ukiyo-e prints which makes me wonder if there was ever a prohibition against this. Or were castles an unpopular subject compared to the more familar views of shrines and temples? Whatever the reason, all the prints here are from 20th- and 21st-century artists showing the place in a variety of seasons and weathers. The castle also appears in Kurosawa’s Kagemusha, a film I haven’t seen for many years. Time for a re-viewing, I think.

Himeji Castle (1930) by Hasui Kawase.

Himeji Castle (1942) by Toshi Yoshida.

Himeji Castle (1948) by Hasui Kawase.

Himeji Castle (c.1950s) by Tomikichiro Tokuriki.

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Weekend links 701

Frosty Morning in Nagaoka, Izu (1939) by Hasui Kawase.

• “A few years ago, retired professor of religious studies Chris Bache wrote a book called LSD and the Mind of the Universe. His book is the story of 73 high-dose LSD experiences he had over a period of 20 years, from 1979 to 1999, and how they changed his understanding of the very nature of reality. Bache believes psychedelics represent a ‘true revolution in Western thought,’ and his life has been lived around that premise. But after his long psychedelic journey, Chris ends up in a really interesting place. He wonders, ‘Can you have too much transcendence?'” Steve Paulson talks to Chris Bache about mega-dosing LSD.

• “Operating in the margins and intersections of folklore, experimental electronics, dreams and nightmares…” Or Hauntology, German-style. Louis Pattison at Bandcamp looks at some of the artists featured on Gespensterland, a compilation album released by Bureau B. The latest news reports about Bandcamp haven’t been encouraging. Download those digital purchases.

• “Cassel favored botanically inspired lines, distilled geometries, and a crepuscular-or-witching hour palette to capture the strange wind and cold light of a particular metaphysical space.” Johanna Fateman reviews Anna Cassel: The Saga of the Rose, a book about the occult artist edited by Kurt Almqvist and Daniel Birnbaum.

• At Dennis Cooper’s: 10 filmmakers, 20 short films, 2 each: Joyce Wieland, Vivienne Dick, Eileen Maxson, Sue de Beer, Amy Greenfield, Chiaki Watanabe, Coleen Fitzgibbon, Germaine Dulac, Lori Felker, Barbara Hammer.

• Rambalac took his roaming camera to the slopes of Mount Fuji. More drone shots, please.

• New music: A Field Guide To Phantasmic Birds by Kate Carr, and Inland Delta by Biosphere.

• Winners and finalists for the 2023 Ocean Photographer of the Year.

• At Wyrd Daze: the latest Disco Rd zine and related podcast.

• Transcendental Express (1975) by Can | Transcendence (1977) by Alice Coltrane | Transcendental Moonshine (1991) by Steroid Maximus

The art of Hasui Kawase, 1883–1957

For the past few months I’ve been nurturing a desire to create one or more pieces of art in the ukiyo-e style, not bona fide woodblock prints—I don’t have the materials or the experience—but something that imitates the general look of such things. Other commitments have so far prevented my attempting anything but I keep browsing the work of the print-makers with an eye on the future. Hasui Kawase is very useful in this respect since he was one of the first Japanese artists to combine traditional subjects and print-making techniques with a graphic style influenced by Western art. The views and compositions are often familiar ones but there’s a greater sense of pictorial realism, especially in the treatment of light and shade which is exceptionally skilful. I especially like his nocturnes. Kawase was a very prolific artist so there’s a lot to see, Ukiyo-e.org has over 3,000 of his prints on file. Many of these will be duplicates but that’s still a lot of work.

This is a necessarily limited selection from the collection of Kawase prints at Wikimedia Commons. The quality of his work is so good you could easily make several posts like this one. For those who’d like to see more, two high-resolution print collections, here and here, are a good place to start.

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Sixteen views of Meoto Iwa

Dawn at Futamigaura (c. 1832) by Kunisada.

Meoto Iwa, or the Married Couple Rocks, are two rocky stacks in the sea off Futami, Mie, Japan. They are joined by a shimenawa (a heavy rope of rice straw) and are considered sacred by worshippers at the neighboring Futami Okitama Shrine (Futami Okitama Jinja). According to Shinto, the rocks represent the union of the creator of kami, Izanagi and Izanami. The rocks, therefore, celebrate the union in marriage of man and woman. The rope, which weighs 40 kilograms, must be replaced several times a year in a special ceremony. The larger rock, said to be male, has a small torii at its peak.

At dawn during the summer, the sun appears to rise between the two rocks. Mount Fuji is visible in the distance. At low tide, the rocks are not separated by water. (more)