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 figure stands at a lookout point high on a cliff in this woodblock print, gazing outward across an expanse that drops away dramatically below. The composition exploits the vertical potential of the format, stacking the cliff face, the figure, and the distant view into a compressed spatial arrangement. Arai draws on a long tradition of elevated vantage points in Japanese landscape art, where high places served both as scenic overlooks and as metaphors for contemplation and perspective. The cliff edge creates a sharp boundary between solid ground and open air, a visual tension that the woodblock medium renders with characteristic clarity through defined edges between color blocks.
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.
Lookout on cliff was created by Yoshimune Arai (荒井芳宗).
Lookout on cliff depicts landscapes, figures, and seascapes.
