東京の芝に生まれました。家業をついだあと、20代後半になって本格的に画家の道へ進み、鏑木清方に「巴水」の名をもらいます。版元の渡辺庄三郎とともに、浮世絵の技を生かした新しい木版画「新版画」をつくり、日本各地を旅して、雪や雨、夕暮れの静かな風景を描きました。「昭和の広重」とよばれ、海外でも人気があります。
Hasui was born in Shiba, Tokyo. After working in the family business, he turned seriously to art in his late twenties, and the painter Kaburaki Kiyokata gave him the name Hasui. With the publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō, he made shin-hanga, 'new prints' that used ukiyo-e techniques. He traveled all over Japan and showed quiet scenes of snow, rain and evening light. He is called the 'Hiroshige of the Shōwa era' and is popular abroad too.
