UkiyoUkiyo-e and the Woodcut Print

by David Maire

The Print:

The Print:
Art form using ink, paper, and a surface; Images are created by pressing the surface and paper together, not by painting or drawing; Editions, more multiple prints can be made using the same surface; Printing methods include etching, lithography, screenprinting, and the woodcut.

The Woodcut:

The Woodcut:

The first print making technique;

Involves carving an image onto a block of wood, which is then used to print onto a sheet of paper.

The History of the Woodcut:

Invented in China around the 7th century AD, but there no surviving prints exist from this time; Various uses included: stamping designs on fabrics and textiles; printing books and scriptures (often Buddhist).

The Process:
Step 1: cutting the wood printing; Step 2: inking the block; Step 3: printing; Step 4: the finished print.

Step 1:

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Step 2:

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Step 4:

From China to Japan:

The earliest prints found were scriptures in a Buddhist temple in Japan;

Japans printmaking history is far more extensive than any other Asian country.

From China to Japan:

Buddhist missionaries from China traveled to Japan around the 8th century AD; The Buddhists brought the art of woodcut printing along with them; As Buddhism spread, so did the need to print more iconic Buddhist representations and scriptures.

Example of Buddhist Scriptures:

Woodcut print in Chinese on paper, found in Japan, dating from 1383, depicting Sakyamuni, the Historical Buddha seated preaching.

Woodcut print in Japanese on paper, found in Japan, dating from 764-770. The scripts are stored in the pagodas above them.

Woodcut print in Chinese on paper, found in Japan, dating from 10111082, a preserved sutra in scroll.

Early Japanese Printing:

By the 12th century, Japanese prints evolved from simple Buddhist scripts to representing people, customs and everyday life; Japanese images were much more colorful, but black ink was the only color used for printing; Along with paper, prints were made on fans, screens and paper doors; Like Chinese prints, few of these pieces still exist.

Examples of Prints:

Print depicting a samurai warrior

Print illustrating a theatrical scene

Print of a woman picking cherry blossoms

Examples of Screens:

Screen showing a city scene (above) Screen depicting fan dance (below)

New Times:

New Times:
 The turn of the 17th century after the warring states period during the Tokugawa Era;  Japan became more stable and prosperous leading to: Education being more widely spread; Tradesmen, artisans and merchants emerging.

Result:
There was a new, large and fast growing class of intelligent, pleasure-loving people; A serge of varied and voluminous literature came into being;  Woodcut medium was used to print all these publications, and, to illustrate them, the first Ukiyo-e woodcuts emerged.

Etymology of Ukiyo:
Ukiyo was a Buddhist term referring to the mundane world, and to the sorrowfulness of nature and existence that we must escape to attain enlightenment and eternal life; In Buddhistic terms, uki meant sorrow and yo meant world; As Japan changed in the 17th century, the diction of uki changed to floating; Ukiyo was understood as the Floating World, a sort of paradise referring to the new era in which a man could become successful and wealthy by utilizing his talents and ambitions.

living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry-blossoms and the maple-leaves, singing songs, drinking wine and diverting ourselves just in floating, floating, caring not a while for the pauperism staring us in the face, refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call ukiyo

~ca. 1600-1680

Etymology of Ukiyo-e: UkiyoThe prefix e, meaning picture was added to refer to certain woodcut print images;

Ukiyo-e therefore means Pictures of the Floating World pictures illustrating pleasure only emerging around the second half of the 17th century.

New Uses:
Was only used for printing images instead of books and scripts; The images are much more expressive, and always picture brothels, the theatre and other entertaining scenes from what was called the gay quarters (or pleasure quarters); Pieces were being commissioned for the first time, and by the 19th century these were mostly by Westerners fascinated with everything Japanese (a trend known as Japonisme).

And then there was color:

Up until the 19th century, colors were obtained from vegetables, and mixed with rice to give the paint consistency; Colors were no longer hand painted, but printed on gradually with a different block for a different color (some prints had 20-30 blocks); The large number of blocks that are used to print different colors allow for a wide range of tints and hues; Images prior to Japanese Westernization have faded due to the poor preserving qualities of the vegetable paint, which changes hues easily with exposure to light.

New Creation System:

Already before the ukiyo-e style, woodcut printing became an industry where it took more than 1 Buddhist to do all the steps; The many workers of a ukiyo-e print include: An artist provides the design and color scheme; A carver, or engraver carves the image into the woodblocks; A printer proofs the image, mixes paints, and transfers each woodblocks color onto one page; A publisher- manages sales and distribution.

Examples of Ukiyo-e: UkiyoCrow and Heron, or Young Lovers Walking Together under an Umbrella in a Snowstorm, ca. 1769 Suzuki Harunobu (Japanese, 1725 1770)

Station of Otsu: From the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (The "Reisho Tokaido"), Edo period (16151868), ca. 184849 Ando Hiroshige (Japanese, 17971858)

A Group of Children Playing under the Plum Blossoms in the Snow, 1887 Hashimoto Chikanobu (Japanese, 18381912)

Kabuki Actor, Edo period (16151868), ca. 1823 Utagawa Kuniyasu (Japanese, 1794 1832)

UkyioUkyio-e Today:
Ukiyo-e images allow scholars to examine the development of printing techniques, and to follow changes in fashion, dress and manner through the years;

Ukiyo-e and the woodcut print still exist today, yet artists often choose to incorporate other artistic techniques into the printing process, which is now very different from what it once was.

Modern Day, Traditional Woodcut Printing Workshop in Japan:

Modern Day Japanese Woodblock Artisans Hard at Work (only the electric lights are new).

A carver working on a woodblock.

A printer first inking, then rubbing, then with the finished sheet.

The first woodblock juxtaposed with the final, finished print. (artist Hiroshige's "Giant Lantern at Asakusa)

Modern Day, Traditional Woodcut Printing Process:

The Making of Paul Binnies "Red Fuji"

Printing of the sky area in blue and gray. The lifting of the print and the finished result.

Printing the red mountain side. Rubbing the paper over the woodblock. (Left) Lifting the print off the woodblock. (Middle) The finished print. (Right)

Selection of three blocks used to print different colors. (Left) Sample pieces of paper showing tones and shading. (Right)

Dozens of Red Fuji prints laid out to dry between printings.

The Final Result:

END

Bibliography:
Hiller, J., The Japanese Print: A New Approach, London and Southampton; The Camelot Press Ltd, 1960 Hiller, J., Japanese Colour Prints, London; Phidon Press Limited, 1975 Hiller, J., Japanese Masters if the Colour Print: A Great Heritage of Oriental Art, London; Phidon Press Limited, 1954 Sadao Kikuchi, A Treasury of Japanese Wood Block Prints; Ukiyo-e, New York; Crown Publishers, Inc., 1969 Rebecca Salter, Japanese Popular Prints, Honolulu; University of Hawaii Press, 2006 Mary Tolman and Norman Tolman, Collecting Japanese Prints; Then and Now, Vermont and Tokyo; Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Co., Inc.,1994 Laurence Binyon and J.J. OBrien Sexton, Japanese Colour Prints, London; Ernest Benn, Ltd., 1923 Muneshige Narazaki, Masterworks of Ukiyo-e, Tokyo, New York, San Fransisco; Kodansha International LTD., 1981 http://www.chazen.wisc.edu/assets/03_exhibitions_img/Teacher_Materials/Accessable_powerpoint_files/800x600/Educational_mate rials.html http://nanashiomi.com/ENGLISH/AFTER_UKIYOE/E_Ukiyo_e.html http://www.sitkacenter.org/classes/detail.php?id=50 http://www.schoyencollection.com/Pre-Gutenberg.htm  http://www.saffronmarigold.com/catalog/about_block_printing.php http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2001/whatisaprint/flash.html http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ukiy/hd_ukiy.htm http://www.all-art.org/history330-5.html http://www.ukiyoe-reproductions.com/html/history.html http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/uchida.htm http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/fuji.htm

Questions ???