Arai Yoshimune was a Japanese artist associated with the shin-hanga ("New Prints") art movement in Japan during the early 20th century. This movement was influenced by European Impressionism and its imagery focused on landscapes, women, and nature. In the 1920s, the publisher Hasegawa commissioned a small group of artists to create woodblock prints for a series entitled "Hasegawa's Night Scenes", of which there were a total of 21 prints by 6 artists.

The Composition

The scene makes heavy use of dark blue and darker blue shadows to convey the night and objects within the night. Under a bridge overpass, a solitary fisherman in his boat hauls in his net by the light of a torch, whose light ripples on the water. We see the silhouettes of people going about their late-night business above, in the distance we see the light of a house(?) on lands further out on the river.

The Woodblock Print

This woodblock is in pristine condition, having been carefully framed and preserved prior to removal. Intact thin margins lead us to believe this is an early edition piece and not trimmed. Clean verso with no residue of tacking or tape, stamped "407" which is the catalog number of this piece in the Watanabe catalog. Rich color with no discoloration or fading. Note that this print is also unsigned.

About the Artist

Utagawa Yoshimune II (1863-1941) was the eleventh and youngest son of Utagawa Yoshimune I (1817-1880) and spent his childhood residence in the Kinroku-chō area of Tokyo. At a young age he studied with the famous ukiyo-e artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) and he assumed the name Toshiyuki at age thirteen. After his father’s death he was adopted by the Arai family. He succeeded his father in 1882 to become Yoshimune II and occasionally used his father’s art name Isshōsai, along with the adopted name Arai Yoshimune. Worked as illustrator and print designer. Also known as Arai Toshiyuki.