Woodblock Prints
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In Japanese, woodblock prints are called hanga; han means 'a printing block', and ga is 'picture'. Ukiyo-e literally means 'pictures of the floating world', and is a sub-set of hanga. Ukiyo-e were pictures of exciting people and scenes from the entertainment districts of old Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka -- the bars, bawdy houses, and theaters that comprised the 'Water World'. In many cases this was a world of its own, as the entertainment quarters (if not the theaters) were often walled in, and those who made their living from such entertainments were not allowed to go out into the general populace. Samurai, gentlemen, and lesser citizens who could afford it, were allowed inside for the evening -- or night.
Popular depictions of the 'Water World' are preserved mainly in woodblock prints, as this was the medium by which the pictures could be reproduced and sold to thousands of consumers at prices ordinary people could afford. It was one of the first forms of mass marketing and merchandizing of famous people, but woodblock prints (hanga) had already been used -- since the 17th century -- to distribute many other kinds of art (besides ukiyo-e), particularly landscapes of the Japanese countryside, often accompanying travel guide books.
The technique for making woodblock prints is involved. The artist (whose name goes on the prints) creates at least one copy of the art work. Then the engravers carve the printing boards -- one for each color to be used! -- destroying the original art in the process. Then the printers hand print copy after copy, daubing each board with its particular color in just the right places, then aligning the page so the different colors all fit together.
I picked up a bunch of old woodblock prints at the used book shops of Jimbocho, Tokyo, and near Keihan Sanjo in Kyoto. Most are mediocre to interesting, but did not cost much. A few of my favorites are below. "Murasaki no Ue" I paid more for at an antique shop in Nikko.
These are not offered for sale, just for your viewing pleasure.
Click on an image to see the entire picture; most are 11k to 20k JPEG images. Larger JPG or GIF images are also available, below. They just take longer to downlowd.
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Here are two contemporary landscape woodblock prints by Shufu Miyamoto, born in 1950, from Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. I bought these at the Kyoto Handicraft Center.
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And two more contemporary Japanese woodblock prints of rural scenes. The first is by M. Unno from 1978. The title Onigawara literally means "devil tile", but the actual meaning is a "(roof) ridge-end tile", usually crafted with a symbol or face to scare away bad luck and fire. The second is by K. Nakajima from 1980, showing an old thatched farm house in a natural setting. I bought these at the Kyoto Handicraft Center.
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And finally, a nice woodblock print from China. This is what some of the canals of Suzhou (near Shanghai) still look like -- in fact, I stayed quite near this particular canal. Print by Zhou We-ming (born 1940); purchased at the Wangshi Garden's Gallery, Suzhou, China.
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