Preparatory drawing of Sakuma Dennai

"Preparatory Drawing of Sakuma Dennai" (circa 1868) is an ink-and-color sketch for a warrior portrait print, showing the figure at the composition stage before transfer to wood. The study preserves both the pose Yoshitoshi settled on and the preliminary color scheme, offering a rare window into his working process. The circa 1868 date places this during his most intense period of warrior print production, when he was completing the large Eimei nijūhachi-shūku series and numerous other musha-e simultaneously.