Matsushima in Moonlight (Tsuki no Matsushima)

Date:: 1919
Medium:: Color woodblock print
Format:: Oban
Publisher:: Watanabe Shozaburo
Edition:: Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Typical Price

Night views with moonlight and lantern effects carry a 20–30% premium over comparable daytime scenes. The dramatic tonal contrasts required for nocturnal subjects make impression quality especially important — fine examples from pre-war printings show a depth of color that later editions rarely match. Prints with well-preserved black areas and accurate moonlight bokashi command the highest prices. Pre-earthquake impressions (before September 1923) are the rarest of all, as the Kanto Earthquake destroyed Watanabe's workshop and most early blocks.

Pre-war lifetime edition (Watanabe seal): $1,500–$5,000
Postwar lifetime edition (J-seal): $600–$2,000
Posthumous/Heisei edition: $250–$700

Description

Matsushima in Moonlight, published in 1919, depicts the celebrated bay of island-dotted Matsushima under nocturnal illumination — one of Hasui's earliest attempts at the moonlit seascape subject that would become among his most celebrated specialties. The 1919 date makes this among his first published prints, and the moonlit Matsushima composition — pine-topped islands reflected in still bay water under a full or near-full moon — established the nocturnal landscape vocabulary he would refine over four decades. The [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) sky gradations here, moving from deep indigo to a lighter tone near the moon, represent early explorations of the technical effects he would master.