Sailing Boats: Night (Hansen, yoru), from the series "Seto Inland Sea (Seto Naikai shu)"
Hansen, yoru
Hansen, yoru
From the Seto Inland Sea Sailing Boats series — among Yoshida's most iconic and sought-after groups. The night and fog/mist variants command the highest premiums within this already valuable series. Sailing Boats: Mist has achieved $7,500 at auction; a set of three variants (Morning, Forenoon, Night) was estimated at GBP 3,000–4,000 at Sotheby's (December 2023). Complete sets of all variants are extremely rare.
Sailing Boats: Night (Hansen, yoru) is the nocturnal companion to Yoshida's celebrated morning version, forming part of his masterful Seto Inland Sea (Seto Naikai shu) series published in 1926. The print depicts the same traditional sailing vessels that appear throughout the series, now silhouetted against the deep blue-black waters of the Inland Sea under a night sky. The boats' sails, which glowed with warm sunlight in the morning print, are here rendered as dark geometric forms barely distinguishable from the surrounding darkness, their shapes revealed primarily through subtle tonal differences and the faint illumination of moonlight or starlight reflected on the water.
The night version of the sailing boats subject represents the culmination of the temporal progression that structures the Seto Inland Sea series. By depicting the same motif at different times of day, Yoshida created a meditation on the passage of time and the transformative power of light — themes that connect his work to both the Western Impressionist tradition and the Japanese aesthetic concept of capturing specific, fleeting atmospheric moments.
Technically, Sailing Boats: Night is among the most demanding prints in Yoshida's entire body of work. Rendering a night scene requires building up deep, rich darks while maintaining enough tonal variation to distinguish the various elements of the composition — sky from water, boats from background, near from far. The temptation to make everything uniformly dark must be resisted, as a successful night scene depends on the viewer's ability to perceive subtle differences within the overall darkness. Yoshida achieved this through careful sequencing of deep indigo, blue-black, and pure black pigments, each applied in controlled gradations.
The print's quiet, contemplative mood stands in poignant contrast to the optimistic brightness of its morning counterpart. Together, the two prints — and the full series of which they are part — represent one of the supreme achievements of the [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) movement, demonstrating the woodblock medium's capacity for atmospheric subtlety and emotional range.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Sailing Boats: Night (Hansen, yoru), from the series "Seto Inland Sea (Seto Naikai shu)" (Hansen, yoru) was created by Hiroshi Yoshida (吉田博) in 1926.
Yes — Sailing Boats: Night (Hansen, yoru), from the series "Seto Inland Sea (Seto Naikai shu)" is part of the Seto Inland Sea series (print 5 of 6) by Hiroshi Yoshida.
Sailing Boats: Night (Hansen, yoru), from the series "Seto Inland Sea (Seto Naikai shu)" uses Bokashi, Nishiki-e, and Moku-hanga, on color woodblock print.
Sailing Boats: Night (Hansen, yoru), from the series "Seto Inland Sea (Seto Naikai shu)" was published by Yoshida Studio (1926).
Sailing Boats: Night (Hansen, yoru), from the series "Seto Inland Sea (Seto Naikai shu)" depicts boats & ships, seascapes, and night scenes, set at Seto Inland Sea.
Sailing Boats: Night (Hansen, yoru), from the series "Seto Inland Sea (Seto Naikai shu)" measures 36 × 50.3 cm (Oban format).
