Details

Sumida River, Afternoon presents a luminous moment along Tokyo’s historic waterway, rendered with Yoshida’s trademark clarity and restraint. The wide river gleams with the midday light, its surface dappled with subtle tonal gradations of blue and silver. Dozens of boats—some with unfurled sails, others rowed or motored—glide across the scene in elegant rhythm, while a cluster of onlookers gathers on the wooden landing in the lower right corner, engaged in quiet observation or casual conversation.

Across the water, the low, silhouetted skyline of the city rises in shadowed profile, punctuated by temple rooftops, pagodas, and traditional structures—anchoring the composition in place and time. Yoshida’s delicate use of bokashi gradation in both sky and water captures the unique softness of light as the sun begins its slow descent. Every element is harmonized with an understated sense of movement and tranquility.

Connoisseur's Note

This print is part of a refined three-part series that explores the same riverside scene at differing times of day: Mist, Afternoon, and Evening. Yoshida used the same carved woodblocks for each version, altering only the colors and tonal treatments to explore shifting light and atmosphere—an idea that became central to his mature vision as a printmaker.

The Sumida River set reflects Yoshida’s deep fascination with temporal variation—how a single view can transform in character across the span of hours. This conceptual approach first took form in his pre-earthquake Sailing Boat series of 1921 and was expanded upon in the reimagined 1926 Sailing Boat prints. In both series, and again here with the Sumida River triptych, Yoshida treated the passage of time as a subject in its own right—rendering mood, light, and temperature as vividly as line and form.

In the Afternoon view specifically, the brightness and airiness of the composition offer a feeling of serenity, depicting the city at ease and in motion. The water is alive with reflection, and yet there is calm in the rhythm of the boats and figures. It is a masterwork of compositional restraint and tonal harmony—a subtle but resonant expression of time, place, and atmosphere.