The Retainer Samanosuke on the Moor at Night

Date:: 1865
Medium:: Print
Format:: Oban
Source:: Victoria and Albert Museum

Typical Price

Scarce or exceptional Yoshitoshi composition in fine condition: $1,500–$8,000
Good condition print: $400–$1,500
Later impression or common subject: $200–$600

Description

"The Retainer Samanosuke on the Moor at Night" (1865) depicts an armed retainer—likely Akechi Samanosuke—crossing a dark moor in the night, the isolation and darkness suggesting both physical danger and spiritual exposure. Nocturnal landscape settings in Yoshitoshi's early prints often carry supernatural overtones: the moor was a liminal space in Japanese folklore, associated with wandering spirits and supernatural encounters. The solitary warrior in the dark landscape would become one of Yoshitoshi's most evocative compositional types.

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)

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)"

1888

Color woodblock print; oban

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

n.d.

Color woodblock print

More Night Scenes Prints

Evening in East Africa

Woodblock print

Evening Shower at Teradomari (Teradomari no yau), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"

Teradomari no yau

1921

Color woodblock print; oban

Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"

1947

Color woodblock print; oban

Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"

March 1933

Color woodblock print; oban

Frequently Asked Questions

The Retainer Samanosuke on the Moor at Night was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in 1865.

The Retainer Samanosuke on the Moor at Night depicts night scenes.