$5,000–$200,000+. Reproduction prints: $5,000–$15,000. Key value factors: Shoen's paintings are far more valuable than prints. Authenticity and provenance are critical.
Arakida is a name associated with the Arakida clan of Ise Grand Shrine priests, suggesting this print may depict a literary or historical figure connected to that lineage. Shoen, who drew extensively from classical Japanese literature and Noh theater for her subjects, often selected women from historical narratives whose stories carried emotional depth. Her woodblock renderings translate the pictorial qualities of her nihonga paintings into the print medium, retaining the refined linework and subtle color harmonics she developed through decades of working with mineral pigments on silk. The oban format provides space for the figure's elaborate costume, which in Shoen's work always serves as a vehicle for character expression: the colors, patterns, and draping of a garment reveal the wearer's social station, emotional state, and the season in which the scene is set.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Arakida was created by Uemura Shoen (上村松園).
Arakida depicts figures, religious, and bijin-ga.
