The Senjomaku Cliffs, Lake Towada (Souvenirs of Travel I)

The upper half of the picture is occupied by a cliff with bare reddish-brown rock. Above and below the cliff are dense green trees, and white thunderheads billow up beyond it. The lake surface below is deep blue, and a single small boat with a white sail floats there, emphasizing the size of the cliff. In the upper left are the date "Taisho 8, summer," Hasui's signature, and his seal, and in the lower left the title "Lake Towada ... Senjomaku" is printed.

Hasui made his first print in 1918 and from 1919 began in earnest his work of traveling to various places, sketching, and turning the sketches into woodblock prints. "Souvenirs of Travel I" is a series of 16 prints issued from 1919 to 1920 by Watanabe Shozaburo's shop, and includes views in Aomori such as Lake Towada and Tsuta Hot Spring. It is regarded as the body of work that established Hasui's reputation as a landscape print artist.

Like ukiyo-e, it is a work of "shin-hanga" (new prints), made through a division of labor among the painter, carver, and printer. The skill of the technique can be seen in how the rock face of the cliff and the layered leaves of the trees are expressed through overprinting of colors.

The Tokyo National Museum and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo each own this print.