Yoshimune Arai

Yoshimune Arai (荒井芳宗, 1873–1945) was a Japanese woodblock print artist who produced landscape and figure prints during the late Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa periods. Born in 1873, Arai was among the older generation of artists who worked within or alongside the shin-hanga movement, bringing a late nineteenth-century artistic sensibility to the modern woodblock print format.

Arai's prints encompass landscapes depicting Japanese scenic views and figure compositions that demonstrate his grounding in traditional Japanese painting techniques. His work reflects the transitional period in Japanese printmaking when the conventions of ukiyo-e were being adapted and transformed by the emerging shin-hanga movement, and his prints show elements of both traditions.

His output was modest, and detailed biographical information is limited. Arai died in 1945, the final year of World War II. His prints appear occasionally at auction, where they are of interest to collectors seeking examples of shin-hanga era printmaking by lesser-known artists working within the movement's landscape and figure traditions.