Page 91 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

NOR THERN T OK Y O  89

The Floating World of Ukiyo-e

In the Edo period, wood-block prints, called ukiyo-e, or pictures of the pleasure-
seeking “floating world,” became the most popular pictorial art of Japan. They had
a profound influence on artists such as Matisse and Van Gogh. Although today they
are credited to individual artists, they were in fact a cooperative effort between
the publisher, responsible for financing and distributing the work; the artist, who
produced a fine line drawing; the carver, who pasted the drawings onto blocks
of wood and carved away what was not to appear on the print, making one block
for each color; and the printer, who inked the wooden blocks and pressed them
onto the paper – one for each color, starting with the lightest. Editions were limited
to 100–200 copies. The first artist known by name was Moronobu, who died in
1694. The golden age of ukiyo-e lasted from about 1790 to the 1850s. Beautiful
women, Kabuki actors, scenes from Japan, including Shitamachi, and the
supernatural were recurring themes.

A full-color calen dar
of women published
by Suzuki Harunobu
in 1765 marked a
transition from the
earlier black-and-
white tech niques.
Highly popular (and
a moneymaker),
the calendar was
a suc cess, and After Harunobu’s calendar, depictions of
attrac ted both women were individualized and eroticized by
finan ciers and artists artists such as Kitagawa Utamaro and Torii
to the medium. Kiyonaga. This print is by Utamaro.

Landscape prints
were dominated
by Hokusai (1760–
1849) and his
younger rival
Hiroshige (1797–
1858). This print is
from the latter’s
Fifty-Three Stations
of the Tokaido.

This 1825 print by Hokusai
shows the carving and
printing stages of wood-
block print making. Ghosts and goblins were a
Printers relied on favorite theme, especially in
vegetable dyes, some summer (to be scared was
of which were very thought to be cooling).
expensive. The red Utagawa Kuniyoshi (whose
dye beni, derived from print is shown here), Taiso
safflowers, could be Yoshitoshi, and Kobayashi
worth more than its Kiyochika were masters of
weight in gold. Some the genre, which marked
prints required up to the end of ukiyo-e’s
a dozen colors. golden age.

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