Coastal View
- 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.
This woodblock print offers a panoramic view along a Japanese coastline, where land meets the Pacific in a sweep of color and atmosphere. Arai, better known for his [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) and [kuchi-e](/glossary/kuchi-e) illustrations, here turns his attention to pure landscape. The coastal terrain is built up through overlapping planes of color — foreground rocks or vegetation giving way to the arc of a bay, then open water extending to the horizon. This type of meisho (famous place) imagery has deep roots in Japanese printmaking, from Hiroshige's coastal views onward, and Arai's version updates the tradition with the richer color registration and smoother gradients that became possible as printing technology advanced in the late Meiji period.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Coastal View was created by Yoshimune Arai (荒井芳宗).
Coastal View depicts landscapes and seascapes.
