A Fishing Boat
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
Key value factors: Edition order (first Watanabe/Doi printing vs. posthumous reprints) is crucial. Snow scenes, night views, and bijin-ga typically command premiums. Publisher seals and artist signatures authenticate first editions.
A solitary fishing boat occupies this woodblock print, a subject that places Arai among the many Japanese printmakers drawn to the daily rhythms of coastal life. The vessel appears modest and functional, the kind of craft that worked the inshore waters supplying fish markets from Osaka to Tokyo. Arai renders the boat with precise line work inherited from his Utagawa school training, while the surrounding water receives a more impressionistic treatment through subtle gradations of ink. The composition strips away the narrative complexity of his bijin-ga work, focusing instead on the quiet geometry of hull, mast, and horizon — a study in simplicity that connects to centuries of Japanese maritime imagery.
Woodblock print
Hansen, yoru
1926
Color woodblock print
1915
Color woodblock print
Hansen, asa
1926
Color woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
A Fishing Boat was created by Yoshimune Arai (荒井芳宗).
A Fishing Boat depicts boats & ships and animals.
