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Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Samurai with drawn sword

Samurai with drawn sword by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi — Japanese Preparatory drawing for a print, ink and color on paper, second half 1860s

Samurai with drawn sword

by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Meiji/Taishō Prints Ukiyo-e

Date:: second half 1860s
Medium:: Preparatory drawing for a print, ink and color on paper
Format:: Oban
Dimensions:: 25.1 × 18.1 cm

Source:

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Typical Price

Fine impression of warrior subject: $1,000–$5,000
Good condition warrior print: $400–$1,500
Later impression: $200–$600

Description

"Samurai with Drawn Sword" is a preparatory drawing from the second half of the 1860s, depicting an unidentified warrior in the act of drawing or wielding his blade—a quintessential [musha-e](/glossary/musha-e) subject distilled to its elemental form. The drawing reveals Yoshitoshi's compositional thinking at the sketch stage: the figure's weight distribution, the angle of the blade, and the set of the warrior's jaw are all worked out in ink before any color is applied. Such drawings were likely made directly from imagination or from posed models within the workshop.

More Prints by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Shunkan Watching Enviously from Kikai Island as Yasuyori Returns to the Capitol after Being Unexpectedly Pardoned (Shunkan sozu Kikaigashima ni oite tamatama Yasuyori no shamen senbo kito no zu) by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Shunkan Watching Enviously from Kikai Island as Yasuyori Returns to the Capitol after Being Unexpectedly Pardoned (Shunkan sozu Kikaigashima ni oite tamatama Yasuyori no shamen senbo kito no zu)

Looking as if She Wants to Go for a Walk: The Fashion of a Married Woman of the Meiji Era (Yūho ga shitasō, Meiji nenkan saikun no fūzoku), from the series Thirty-two Appearances of Fashion (Fūzoku sanjūni sō) by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Looking as if She Wants to Go for a Walk: The Fashion of a Married Woman of the Meiji Era (Yūho ga shitasō, Meiji nenkan saikun no fūzoku), from the series Thirty-two Appearances of Fashion (Fūzoku sanjūni sō)

Slovenly (Shidaranasaso), from the series "Thirty-two Aspects of Women (Fuzoku sanjuniso)" by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Slovenly (Shidaranasaso), from the series "Thirty-two Aspects of Women (Fuzoku sanjuniso)"

1888

Color woodblock print; oban

Four PM, from the series "Twenty-Four Hours in Shinbashi and Yanagibashi" by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Four PM, from the series "Twenty-Four Hours in Shinbashi and Yanagibashi"

n.d.

Color woodblock print

More Warriors Prints

Benkei Bridge by Toshi Yoshida

Benkei Bridge

Woodblock print

Saishin, from the series "Fashionable Women as the One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Water Margin (Fuzoku onna Suikoden, ippyakuhachinin no uchi)" by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Saishin, from the series "Fashionable Women as the One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Water Margin (Fuzoku onna Suikoden, ippyakuhachinin no uchi)"

c. 1828/30

Color woodblock print; surimono

Herakles, Shôwa period, dated 1965? by Hideo Hagiwara

Herakles, Shôwa period, dated 1965?

Woodblock print

Chüshingura in Twelve Months by Hasegawa Sadanobu III

Chüshingura in Twelve Months

Woodblock print

Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Japanese Ghost and Yōkai Prints

Frequently Asked Questions

Samurai with drawn sword was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in second half 1860s.

Samurai with drawn sword depicts warriors.

Samurai with drawn sword measures 25.1 × 18.1 cm (Oban format).