Hobonichi Techo Tokyo National Museum: Hasegawa Tohaku Pine Forest Weeks SPRING 2025

This Hobonichi Weeks is dated from April 2025-March 2026. The week is set from Monday-Sunday and the language is Japanese.

In this work, the artist avoids the prominent outlines typical of ink painting, using only delicate gradations to depict a windswept pine forest with hazy light seeping through the mist. Off in the distance are snow-capped mountains, filling the image with humid, cold air.

Pine Forest is a work of art that was painted by Hasegawa Tohaku nearly 420 years ago during the Azuchi–Momoyama period. The painting currently resides in the Tokyo National Museum as a national treasure and is considered a masterpiece in early modern ink painting.

This popular national treasure, which has stolen people’s hearts with its enigmatic charm, is now available as a Hobonichi Techo Weeks book.

The techo cover focuses on the right-hand screen of the original Pine Forest painting. The material is made with a lightly textured cloth on a hard cover with some give to it so it still bends.

You can see how ink alone still gives the artwork a feeling of depth with incredible applications of gradation and meticulous brush strokes.

The year 2025 is foil-pressed in a matte silver. The year is only featured on the spine of the book to leave the artwork on the front cover unobstructed.

The back cover is white with a bluish tint to evoke the image of thawing snow. The bottom left includes logos for the Tokyo National Museum and Hobonichi.

The book comes with an informational card that gives an overall view of the entire original Pine Forest painting, which stretches across a left- and right-hand screen. You can bend the card and stand it up to have a miniature version of the original.

Hasegawa Tohaku was born in 1539 in Nanao, Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa Prefecture. He painted Buddhist pictures in his hometown of Nanao as a painter until his early 30s, after which he was discovered by Sen no Rikyu and moved to Kyoto. He was believed to be in his 50’s when he painted Pine Forest. Some believe that Tohaku, who lost his son at a young age, may have painted this image from memory while imagining the coast of his hometown where he walked with his son.

Looking at this artwork can put your mind at ease, provide a sense of comfort, and remind you of your own hometown or memorable place. Pine Forest has an almost magical charm to it in the way the scenery transcends time and place to resonate with all viewers. We hope this techo will bring comfort to those who carry it on them.

*A portion of proceeds from this product will be donated to the Japan Red Cross in support of recovery and reconstruction after the Noto Peninsula Earthquake Disaster of 2024 and the Noto Peninsula Heavy Rain Disaster of September 2024.