Cheoneunsa Temple, Mount Chiri, Korea - Hasui Kawase

Artist: Kawase Hasui (1883–1957)

Title: Cheoneunsa Temple, Mount Chiri, Korea (Chōsen Chiizan Sen'inji)

Japanese Title: 朝鮮智異山泉隠寺

Series: Selected Korean Landscapes, Continued (Zoku Chōsen Fūkei)

Design Date: 1940 (Shōwa 15)

Publisher: Watanabe Shōzaburō

Medium: Genuine Japanese color woodblock print

Format: Ōban tate-e

Paper Size: Approximately 15.5 × 10.75 inches

This original Japanese woodblock print is Kawase Hasui’s Cheoneunsa Temple, Mount Chiri, Korea, from the 1940 series Selected Korean Landscapes, Continued, published by Watanabe Shōzaburō. 

Hasui places the viewer within the deep shadows of the temple complex, looking outward into a small courtyard where several figures dressed in white go about their work. Heavy wooden beams, rough stone walls, buckets, tools, and the circular cover of a well fill the foreground. Beyond them, the courtyard catches the light, drawing the eye through the dark architectural framework toward the figures and buildings in the distance.

The composition is particularly striking for its dramatic handling of light and depth. Instead of presenting the temple as a conventional architectural view, Hasui places us inside it. The nearly black beams and walls create a natural frame around the brighter courtyard, while the small figures give the scene an intimate, lived-in quality. The restrained browns, grays, and muted earth tones make this one of Hasui’s quieter and more unusual architectural compositions.

Inscriptions & Marks:

• Title: Cheoneunsa Temple, Mount Chiri, Korea
• Japanese Title: 朝鮮智異山泉隠寺
• Series: Zoku Chōsen Fūkei (Selected Korean Landscapes, Continued)
• Artist: Kawase Hasui
• Date: 1940 (Shōwa 15)
• Signature: Hasui, lower right
• Artist Seal: Red seal beneath signature
• Publisher: Watanabe Shōzaburō
• Reference: Hara Shobo #445

Condition: Excellent. Full margins with light overall toning consistent with age.Some waviness along the upper edge. Colors remain strong, with particularly good definition in the deep brown and black passages of the shadowed foreground. 

About the Artist: Kawase Hasui (1883–1957) was one of the most important landscape printmakers of the twentieth century and a central figure in the shin-hanga movement. Working closely with publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō, Hasui created hundreds of woodblock designs depicting Japan and, occasionally, Korea and other regions he visited. His work is particularly admired for its atmospheric treatment of rain, snow, moonlight, dusk, and quiet architectural settings. Rather than simply recording famous places, Hasui often sought out ordinary streets, temples, waterways, and rural landscapes, transforming them through carefully controlled light, color, and perspective.

About the Series: Selected Korean Landscapes, Continued (Zoku Chōsen Fūkei) was produced in 1940 and followed Hasui’s earlier Korean landscape designs. The series depicts locations Hasui encountered in Korea during the period of Japanese colonial rule, including temples, gates, historic sites, rivers, and cities. Other designs depict Kaesong, Suwon, Gongju, Gyeongju, and Pyongyang.

Cheoneunsa Temple is particularly distinctive within the group because Hasui focuses less on a recognizable monument than on the experience of being inside the temple complex. The dark foreground architecture, utilitarian objects, and figures engaged in everyday activity give the scene an almost documentary intimacy. The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo holds an impression of the design, as do the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art and Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art.