Study Room resource: Japanese prints

Okumura Toshinobu, 'Young Lovers by Mount Fuji'

Okumura Toshinobu (active 1717-50)
'Young Lovers by Mount Fuji'
About 1720
Urushi-e (laquer print)
Signature: Yamato-eshi Okumura Toshinobu hitsu, Seal: Okumura, Publisher: Izumiya Gonshirô Museum no. E.1419-1898

Ukiyo-e or 'pictures of the floating world' is the term used to describe the Japanese popular woodblock prints and paintings from the Edo period (1615-1868).

This print has been created by printing the contour lines from a woodblock, and then colouring by hand, with beni (safflower red) as the predominant colour. Such prints are known as beni-e.

Hand-coloured prints such as this one with areas of intense black are specifically known as urushi-e or 'lacquer prints', as the black areas (which are made from a mixture of animal glue and black pigment) resemble the glossiness of black lacquer.

A considerable quantity of early ukiyo-e prints took their subjects from jôruri. Jôruri are puppet plays with narrative chanting accompanied by the three-stringed musical instrument known as the samisen. This print is based on the jôruri entitled 'Teika'. In it we see Teika and Nowaki, disguised as a packhorse driver, stealing away from the capital of Kyoto towards eastern Japan.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Torii Kiyonobu, 'Kabuki Scene of a Young Hero Battling with Two Warriors'

Torii Kiyonobu II (about 1760)
'Kabuki Scene of a Young Hero Battling with Two Warriors'
1752
Benizuri-e (limited colour woodblock print)
Hosoban size
Signature: Torii Kiyonobu hitsu
Museum no. E.1323-1922

This print is a benizuri-e or 'red-printed picture', so called because the predominant colour, along with green, is red. Benizuri-e prints were early experiments in colour printing. This print has been created using three woodblocks, one inked with black, one with red and one with green.

The arrangement of the colours within the print was not always considered important in the creation of this type of print, the main reason for using the colours being to make the print striking and attractive to possible customers.

This print depicts a scene from a Kabuki play. Kabuki is a type of popular Japanese drama, evolved from the older Nô theatre, in which elaborately costumed performers use stylised movements, dances and songs in order to enact tragedies and comedies. In this Kabuki scene a young hero (Sanada no Yoichi - at centre) grapples with one samurai (Yamaki Hangan - at lower right) as another (Matano no Gorô) threatens him with a large heavy cauldron.

The image reflects the stylised ostentation of the Kabuki theatre, and this formalised and stylised form of depiction was to remain popular until the decline of the ukiyo-e in the late 19th century.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Suzuki Harunobu, 'Parading Courtesan with Attendants'

Suzuki Harunobu (about 1724-70)
'Parading Courtesan with Attendants'
Late 1760
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Chûban size
Signature: Suzuki Harunobu ga
Museum no. E.1416-1898

This is an example of an early full colour print. Polychrome multiple-block prints became known as nishiki-e, or 'brocade print', because their lavish colours were likened to the rich palette of nishiki or silk brocades.

The print shows a high-ranking courtesan parading through the Yoshiwara (the licensed pleasure quarters in Edo - now central Tokyo) accompanied by two maidservants and an older attendant.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Katsukawa Shunshô, 'Young Lovers Preparing Tea'

Katsukawa Shunshô (1726-92)
'Young Lovers Preparing Tea'
From the series 'The Six Poets'
Early 1770s
Mitate-e (allusion print), nishiki-e (brocade print)
Chûban size
Museum no. E.586-1903

This print is a mitate-e or 'allusion print'. This was a device whereby classical Japanese or Chinese themes were represented by or alluded to through the depiction of contemporary scenes. In this print, a poem written by Kisen Hôshi (dates unknown) is alluded to by the depiction of tea preparation, probably taking place in the serving area of a busy restaurant.

Waga io wa                         Thus I live in a cell
miyako no tatsumi             southeast of the capital -
shika zo sumu                    the Mountain of Grief
yo o ujiyama to                    it is called, they say, by those
hito wa iu nari                     who find this life hard to bear.

This poem contains a play on words deriving from the fact that Uji is the area to the south-east of Kyoto famous for its tea.

Katsukawa Shunshô produced innovative mitate-e from the end of the Meiwa era (1764-72). This is an early example of his work in this field.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Katsukawa Shunshô, 'Kabuki Scene with Yokobue and the Priests Saigyô and Mongaku'

Katsukawa Shunshô (1726-92)
'Kabuki Scene with Yokobue and the Priests Saigyô and Mongaku'
1777
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Diptych, two hosoban-size sheets
Signature: Shunshô ga
Museum no. E.1277-1896

This print depicts the actor Nakamura Tomijûrô as Yokobue in a scene from the play 'Musume Dôjôji' (The Maiden at Dôjôji Temple) performed at the Nakamura-za Theatre in 1777. Although Tomijûrô was fifty-nine years old at the time, his portrayal of a cheerful, innocent maiden in a kimono with long trailing sleeves was highly acclaimed.

Katsukawa Shunshô was the founder of the stylistic school called the Katsukawa school, which dominated the field of production of Kabuki-related prints. Shunshô's innovative and realistic view of the Japanese stage can be seen in this print (especially in comparison with print 2).

Shunshô frequently used the diptych format (of two hosoban-size sheets) for his prints.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Utagawa Toyoharu, 'Boating and Fireworks on the Sumida River'

Utagawa Toyoharu (1735-1814)
'Boating and Fireworks on the Sumida River'
1770s
Uki-e ('floating picture' or 'perspective print'), nishiki-e (brocade print)
Ôban size
Signature: Utagawa Toyoharu ga
Publisher: Nishimuraya Yohachi
Museum no. E.652-1901

This print is known as a uki-e or 'floating picture' or 'perspective print'. Such prints use an exaggerated, receding perspective, derived from examples of imported European art. By using this perspective device, Toyoharu brought a new and exotic flavour to the genre of the landscape print.

Prints with landscape features had been produced in the first half of the 18th century, but the landscape was generally confined to the background. Under Toyoharu's influence the landscape genre expanded to become one of the mainstreams of ukiyo-e.

Ryôgoku Bridge, on the Sumida River, was completed in 1661, and public squares were built to the east and west of it. Street performances and side-shows resulted in its becoming the most popular amusement centre in Edo, particularly during the summer months.

During the summer the river was thronged with pleasure boats which converged from all over Edo, and each night customers on the boats would compete to launch the most spectacular fireworks. In this print, the liveliness of the area is skilfully conveyed, while to the upper right, the moon looms boldly against a background of silver-grey and red.

The five naked figures in the water near the rocks at the far end of the bridge may be pilgrims, since it was here that pilgrims preparing to set out for Mount Ôyama, in modern Kanagawa Prefecture, purified their minds and bodies.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Kitagawa Utamaro, 'Three Beauties

Kitagawa Utamaro (1750-1806)
'Three Beauties'
Mid-1790s
Bijin-ga ('pictures of beautiful women')
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Ôban size
Signature: Utamaro hitsu
Publisher: Tsutaya Jûzaburô
Museum no. E.263-1934

This print is an example of a bijin-ga or 'picture of beautiful women'. These were a popular genre of ukiyo-e. It shows the courtesans Ohisa and Okita and the singer Toyohina in a pyramidal formation. This pyramidal formation was an innovation of Utamaro's which was frequently copied by later ukiyo-e artists. Utamaro brought to the genre of figure prints a new ideal of feminine beauty.

The coloured ground of this print has been enhanced by kirazuri or 'mica printing', whereby mica powder has been printed with glue onto areas of the print using a woodblock. In order to create an even, smooth appearance, additional mica was sometimes applied with a brush over the printed mica.

Sometimes kirazuri was also combined with colours that were printed underneath the mica. In this print, where mica has been used on its own, the technique is called shiro-unmo or 'white mica' kirazuri.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Chôbunsai Eishi, 'Kiyomori's Daughter Painting a Self-Portrait to Send to her Mother'

Chôbunsai Eishi (1756-1829)
'Kiyomori's Daughter Painting a Self-Portrait to Send to her Mother'
Late 1790s
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Ôban size
Signature: Eishi zu
Publisher: Nishimuraya Yohachi
Censorship seal: Kiwame
Museum no. E.11-1897

Eishi was a follower of Kitagawa Utamaro. He was an artist of elevated samurai rank who abandoned his career as an official painter to enter the fascinating world of ukiyo-e. Eishi formed a sub-school of his own, which produced disciples such as Eishô and Gokyô.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Gokyô, 'Courtesans on Promenade at New Year'

Gokyô
'Courtesans on Promenade at New Year'
Late 1780s
Murasaki-e (purple picture)
Bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women), one sheet of a triptych
Ôban size
Signature: Eishi Monjin (disciple of Eishi) Gokyô ga
Museum no. E.1418-1898

This work is a good example of a benigirai-e or 'red-hating picture', which uses no red colourant. It is a particular type of benigirai-e that employs a predominantly purple colour and is known as a murasaki-e (or 'purple picture'). Benigirai-e were characterised by a more muted palette than nishiki-e (brocade prints). They were popular in the late Tenmei era (1781-9).

Unusual among works showing a parading courtesan is the presence of a young man, apparently the courtesan's guest. This bijin-ga follows the style of the artist's master, Eishi, so closely that if it were not for the signature, one might easily mistake it for the master's work. Nothing is known about Gokyô except that he signed all his works 'disciple of Eishi'.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Utagawa Toyokuni, 'The Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Omezô I in the Drama "Shibaraku"'

Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825)
'The Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Omezô I in the Drama "Shibaraku"'
About 1810
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Ôban size
Signature: Toyokuni ga
Museum no. E.4829-1886

This is most likely a depiction of a production performed at the Morita-za Theatre in November 1810. In the Meiji period (1868-1912), the script of the play 'Shibaraku' (Wait!) became fixed and the name of the main character was designated as Kamakura no Gongorô Kamemasa. Originally, however, the plot and the characters were created afresh each time it was performed.

Virtuous men and women, about to be cut down by an evil lord and his servants, are saved by a man with superhuman strength. When this hero appears on stage, he utters the words, 'Wait! Wait!' thus satisfying the expectant anticipation of the audience.

The bold graphic stylisation and abstraction of form in prints such as these exerted a great influence on European artists. The South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) acquired a major collection of Japanese prints in 1886, making a large body of these images available to artists and a wider public for the first time.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Katsushika Hokusai, 'Suspension Bridge at Mount Gyôdô

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
'Suspension Bridge at Mount Gyôdô, Ashikaga'
From the series 'Splendid Views of Famous Bridges of the Provinces'
About 1834
Nishiki-e (brocade print), fûkei-ga (landscape print)
Ôban size
Signature: Zen Hokusai Iitsu hitsu
Publisher: Nishimuraya Yohachi
Censorship seal: Kiwame
Museum no. E.3778-1953

This fûkei-ga (landscape print) is a fine example of the mature landscape style of Hokusai, one of the great exponents of the landscape print, whose best work is characterised by bold, formal compositions and a striking use of colour.

With the suspension bridge high up on Mount Gyôdô appearing majestically out of swirling mist, Hokusai has created an intriguing scene redolent with the feeling that we are deep in a mountain area. The bridge still exists today, although now it is made of iron rather than wood.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Katsushika Hokusai, 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa'

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
'The Great Wave off Kanagawa'
From the series 'Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji'
1831
Nishiki-e (brocade print), fûkei-ga (landscape print)
Ôban size
Museum no. E.4823-1916

Mount Fuji can be seen in the distance in this famous print, almost dwarfed by the enormous wave. The wave dominates the image, almost obscuring the boats to which the sailors are clinging. Through the use of the dramatic differences in scale in this print, Hokusai contrasts the majesty of nature with the powerlessness of mankind.
  
 Mount Fuji was a popular pilgrimage destination in the Edo period, and was a familiar subject for painters and printmakers.

More than any other Japanese print, this print astounded artists in Europe at the close of the 19th century. Debussy is said to have used it as the inspiration for his orchestral piece, La Mer, and Rainer Maria Rilke for the verse series Der Berg.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Ryûryûkyo Shinsai, 'Camellias'

Ryûryûkyo Shinsai (active about 1789-1830)
'Camellias'
1810s
Surimono (privately commissioned woodblock colour print)
Ôban size
Museum no. E.1415-1898

This print is a surimono, a privately commissioned woodblock colour print. The camellias have been depicted using the technique of tsuketate, whereby a shape is drawn without the use of contour lines.

The influence of Shinsai's teacher, Hokusai, is evident in the dynamic composition of the flowers. The image of camellias in the snow is a traditional Japanese motif that alludes to the month of January and the imminent arrival of spring.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Totoya Hokkei, 'Pilgrims on Mount Tateyama

Totoya Hokkei (1780-1850)
'Pilgrims on Mount Tateyama, Etchû Province'
From the series 'Famous Views of the Provinces'
Early 1830s
Nishiki-e (brocade print), fûkei-ga (landscape print)
Ô-tanzaku size
Signature: Aoigaoka Hokkei ga
Publishers: Nishimuraya Yohachi and Nakamuraya Katsugorô
Censorship seal: Kiwame
Museum no. E.574-1899

Few examples of nishiki-e (brocade print) by Hokkei are known, and this series is regarded as representative of his work. Mount Tateyama is one of Japan's three sacred mountains together with Mount Fuji and Mount Hakusan. It was a popular place of pilgrimage.

At the beginning of the Edo period worship of Mount Tateyama increased greatly, with Ashikura Temple, which contained over thirty shrines and pilgrims' lodgings, being the centre of the cult. In one month as many as three thousand pilgrims would go there to worship.

Spirits of the dead from all over Japan were believed to gather in the nearby valley, from which clouds of smoke can be seen rising in this depiction. The figures are proceeding towards the valley to meet again with departed souls and to pray for their attainment of Nirvana in memorial services. The use of dark blue conveys the feeling of a sacred site deep within the mountains.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 'The Warrior Kashiwade-no-Hatebe Battling with a Tiger Hanshita-e (final drawing)'

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861)
'The Warrior Kashiwade-no-Hatebe Battling with a Tiger Hanshita-e (final drawing)'
Mid-1830s
Musha-e (warrior print)
Ôban size
Signature: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Tôbei
Censorship seal: Kiwame
Museum no. E.2251-1909

This is probably one of the earliest extant hanshita-e (final drawing for pasting onto a woodblock for cutting) by Kuniyoshi. This picture, which was never published as a finished print, is a valuable example of Kuniyoshi's skills in design and draughtsmanship.

This is an example of a musha-e or 'warrior print', a genre of prints which represented heroes from history, legend or myth. From an early stage in his career, Kuniyoshi showed a predilection for the romance and mystery of history and legend. His subjects were many and varied, and included incidents from the dawn of Japanese history through to the recent past.

He was particularly interested in the medieval period, much of his work centring on the conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans in the late twelfth century, the rivalry of the Northern and Southern Courts in the early fourteenth century, and the pacification of the country in the late 16th century following decades of anarchy and civil war.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.
 

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 'Distant View of Mount Fuji from Shôhei Hill'

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861)
'Distant View of Mount Fuji from Shôhei Hill'
From the series 'Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji from Edo'
About 1843
Nishiki-e (brocade print), fûkei-ga (landscape print)
Ôban size
Signature: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga
Publisher: Murataya Jirobei
Censorship seal: Mura
Museum no. E.2267-1909

The series 'Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji from Edo' is one of three masterful landscape series by Kuniyoshi dating from the Tempô era (1830-44). Despite the series title, only five prints seem to have been published. Kuniyoshi's landscape prints often include figures viewed from oblique angles and juxtaposed against the landscape. They also feature striking perspective techniques and abrupt changes of scale.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 'Night Rain and Thunder'

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861)
'Night Rain and Thunder'
From the series 'Beauties and Episodes of Ôtsu-e'
Early 1850s
Uchiwa-e (fan print)
Aiban size
Signature: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga
Publisher: illegible
Censorship seals: Muramtsu and Fuku
Museum no. E.12117-1886

The oblong picture shown in the top left of this fan print is an Ôtsu-e. This is a simple comical picture which was sold as a good-luck charm in Ôtsu, near Kyoto. The Ôtsu-e shows the thunder god on a cloud trying to pick up a drum he has dropped with an anchor.

The woman in the foreground of this fan print alludes to the Ôtsu-e. The thunder god's movements are echoed in those of the woman, who teases a cat with a piece of string.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 'Graffiti on a Storehouse Wall'

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861)
Print from the series 'Graffiti on a Storehouse Wall'
1847
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Ôban size
Signature: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga
Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburô
Censorship seals: Kinugasa and Hama
Museum no. E.10551-1886

Kuniyoshi was an extremely versatile artist and was known to have studied techniques from a variety of different schools. The influence of Western-style line drawing is evident in the fluid, impromptu lines of these amusing caricatures of popular Kabuki actors.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Utagawa Hiroshige, 'Kiga Hot Springs'

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
'Kiga Hot Springs'
From the series 'Tour of the Seven Hot Springs Resorts in Hakone'
About 1850
Uchiwa-e (fan print), aizuri-e (blue-printed pictures), fûkei-ga (landscape print)
Aiban size
Signature: Hirogshige ga
Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburô
Censorship seals: Kinugasa and Murata
Museum no. E.12066-1886

This is an example of an uchiwa-e, a print designed to decorate a fan. The fan-shaped image was printed on a regular aiban-size sheet, and later cut out.

Hakone was already popular in the Edo period as a sightseeing and a hot spring resort.

Hiroshige was one of the great artists who worked in the fûkei-ga (landscape print) genre. His romantic conception of landscape is conveyed in the harmonious compositions of his prints.

This work is printed in blue alone, except for the red panels containing a series title and place names. Blue appears to have been favoured for fan prints, as it conveys a feeling of coolness.

Examples whereby the designs are executed almost exclusively in different tones of blue are known as aizuri-e or 'blue-printed pictures'. This predominant pigment is either indigo or bero-ai (Prussian blue). Prints in which bero-ai predominates are often called bero aizuri-e (Prussian blue printed pictures). The extensive use of bero-ai (Prussian blue) seen in landscape prints by Hiroshige and other artists suggests that its introduction in the 1820s was an important stimulus to the development of the landscape print.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 'The Retainer Samanosuke on a Moor at Night'

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-92)
'The Retainer Samanosuke on a Moor at Night'
From the series 'One Hundred Japanese and Chinese Tales'
1865
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Ôban size
Signature: Ikkaisai Yoshitoshi ga
Publisher: Daikokuya
Censorship seal: Ushi ni (February 1865) aratame
Museum no. E.14180-1886

The print is based on the story of Akechi Mitsuhide's retainer Akechi Samanosuke. Learning that his friend's daughter is being held by a fox monster, young Samanosuke fights the fox and saves the girl.

The print has been embellished by means of a technique known as shômen-zuri or 'surface printing'. The print, which had to be completely dry, was placed face up and burnished with a smooth hard implement so that the areas in contact with the raised parts of the block took on a distinctive sheen.

Yoshitoshi was a talented pupil of Kuniyoshi. He had a troubled mind, resulting in prints depicting excesses of violence, blood and gore, which were consequently repressed by the authorities. The composition of his prints is often striking and dramatic.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.

Isoda Koryûsai, 'Beauty Dreaming of Good Luck'

Isoda Koryûsai (active mid-1760s-1780s)
'Beauty Dreaming of Good Luck'
Nishiki-e (brocade print), hashira-e (pillar print)
Hashira-e size
Early 1770s
Museum no. E.3757-1953

Koryûsai was the principal follower of Suzuki Harunobu, an ukiyo-e artist who dominated the genre in the Meiwa era (1764-72). Koryûsai excelled particularly in prints in the format of hashira-e, or 'pillar print'. These were designed, as the name implies, for hanging on the interior pillars of Japanese rooms.

This print depicts a superstition widely believed during the Edo period. A beautiful woman is shown slumbering against a background featuring an eggplant below a hawk soaring in front of Mount Fuji. People believed that good luck would follow if a hawk, an eggplant and Mount Fuji appeared in the first dream of the New Year.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP2.

Kikukawa Eizan, 'Geisha Playing the Hand-Game Kitsune-ken'

Kikukawa Eizan (1790-1848)
'Geisha Playing the Hand-Game Kitsune-ken'
About 1820
Bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women)
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Triptych, three ôban-size sheets
Signature: Kikukawa Eizan hitsu
Unidentified publisher's mark
Censorship seal: Kiwame
Museum no. E.13307-1886

This print by Eizan, one of the masters of the bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) genre in the 1820s and 1830s, shows three geisha playing a game called kitsune-ken.

The game was played with the hands rather like 'scissors - paper - stone': a fox (kitsune) was formed by raising both hands and imitating a fox's ears, as shown in the middle sheet; a village headman was made by placing both hands on the knees, as shown in the left hand sheet; and a gun was made by extending both arms as though shooting a gun, as shown in the right-hand sheet.

The fox beats the headman, the headman beats the gun, and the gun beats the fox. A sake container is placed in the centre, and to the right is a sake cup; the person who loses a game has to take a drink as a forfeit. In the room behind the three women, a party is in full swing, as shown by the shadows of the dancing revellers on the sliding paper doors.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP2.

'Style of Toyokuni, Famous Kabuki Actors in a Melange of Scenes from the Drama "Chûshingura"'

Style of Toyokuni (1769-1825)
'Famous Kabuki Actors in a Melange of Scenes from the Drama "Chûshingura"'
Mid-1810s
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Triptych, three ôban-size sheets
Museum no. 21355

Tokoyuni was working at a time when the Kabuki theatre and theatrical print tradition was flourishing, and his work forms a vivid testimony of this major theatrical tradition. This is a collection of representative scenes from the play, 'Kanadehon Chûshingura' (The Treasury of the Forty-Seven Loyal Retainers).

This is one of Kabuki's most famous plays. The artist has not added his signature, but it is unmistakably by Toyokuni. It is uncertain exactly when the print was made, but it may have been 1815 or 1816, a time when Chûshingura was frequently performed.

The design of this print is a good example of the use of Far Eastern perspective. Far Eastern perspective is based on 'affine geometry', so a box is depicted in perspective as a cube, with opposing lines remaining parallel. Western perspective, however, uses 'projective geometry', so that a box is depicted as a trapezoid. 'Affine geometry' suited the format of much Far Eastern art - the narrow, horizontal shape of scrolls, for instance, which allows for multiple viewpoints.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP2.

Utagawa Kunisada, 'Girls Dancing

Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)
'Girls Dancing, The Seventh Month'
From the series 'The Five Festivals'
1830s
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Ôban size
Signature: Kôchôrô Kunisada ga
Publisher: Sanoya Kihei
Censorship seal: Kiwame
Museum no. E.5562-1886

In this print Kunisada creates a remarkable feeling of movement through the depiction of a combination of dance poses. The women are shown dancing at the Tanabata Festival. This takes place once a year and celebrates the annual meeting between the two stars, Vergas and Altair.

According to Chinese legend, the two stars were separated by the Milky Way and could only meet once a year on the seventh night of the seventh lunar month. In modern Japan the festival is still held, the cities of Sendai and Hiratsuka being particularly well-known for their elaborate celebrations.

Kunisada was one of the major artists producing bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) and other images of women during the 1820s and 1830s. His work is slightly less stylised and more humanised than that of his contemporaries.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP2.

Utagawa Kunisada, 'The Kabuki Actors Ichikawa Kodanji IV and Bandô Kamezô'

Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)
'The Kabuki Actors Ichikawa Kodanji IV and Bandô Kamezô'
1856
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Diptych, two ôban-size sheets
Signature: Tokokuni ga
Publisher: Daikokuya
Censorship seals: aratame and Tatsu shichi (July 1856)
Museum no. E.5733,5734-1886

This work is based on the final scene in Act 4 of 'Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura' (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees), performed at the Ichimura-za Theatre in July 1856.

This print depicts a fight between the actor Ichikawa Kodanji IV as Fox-Genkuro and Kakuhan, a priest, among drifting will-o'-the-wisp. Kunisada frequently produced Kabuki prints. His detailed rendering of both actors and their costumes is particularly effective at capturing the liveliness and bustle of the performance.

During the ukiyo-e printing process the paper was laid on the inked woodblock and rubbed on the back by a special tool known as a baren. The baren was a flat disk about 13 centimetres in diameter consisting of an inner core of tightly twisted and coiled bamboo-fibre cord encased between a back plate made of approximately forty layers of pasted paper and a bamboo sheath.

The smoothness of the bamboo sheath allowed it to move easily across the paper while the hard knottiness of the inner core ensured that the pigment was forced deep into the fabric of the paper. This print shows a technique known as barensujizuri, which makes deliberate use of the marks caused by the baren to add drama to a composition. These marks can be seen in the blue ground of the print.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP2.

Katsushika Hokusai, 'Shellfish Gathering

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
'Shellfish Gathering, Surimono'
About 1800
Privately commissioned woodblock colour print
Nagaban size
Signature: saki no Sôri (following letters illegible)
Museum no. E.3231-1953

This print is a surimono, a privately commissioned woodblock colour print. It shows Hokusai's idealisation of the feminine as beautiful, delicate and somewhat frail. Shellfish gathering was a traditional Japanese summer activity. The area depicted is Shinagawa, a popular place for shellfish gathering in the southern part of Edo (modern Tokyo). Mount Fuji can be seen on the horizon to the left.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP2.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 'The Rescue of Minamoto no Tametomo by Goblins'

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861)
'The Rescue of Minamoto no Tametomo by Goblins'
About 1851
Nishiki-e (brocade print), musha-e (warrior print)
Triptych, three ôban-size sheets
Signature: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga, Publisher: Sumiyoshiya Masagorô, Censorship seals: Mera and Watanabe
Museum no. E.10605-1886

Minamoto no Tametomo fought with his father in support of the retired emperor Sutoko and was defeated in the Hôgen Disturbance of 1156. The theme here is taken from an episode in the sequel to the long novel about Tametomo, 'Chinsetsu Yumiharizuki' (Crescent Moon: The Adventures of Tametomo), written by Takizawa Bakin.

In 1176, as Tametomo and his followers leave Higo Province on two boats, a typhoon hits them. When Tametomo is about to commit ritual suicide in despair, karasu-tengu (goblins) sent by the spirit Sanuki-in (the retired emperor Sutoku) stop him and stabilise the boat.

This print was embellished by a technique called gofun chirashi or 'gofun splattering' - gofun being made from finely ground oyster shells. This was used particularly in the rendering of snow, mist or spray.

Kuniyoshi's major productions in the genre of musha-e (warrior print) are in the triptych format, in which a unified composition is printed on three vertical ôban sheets arranged side by side. Such an arrangement was necessary because the size of the block was constrained by the narrowness of the cherry trees from which they were cut.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP2.

Shunbaisai Hokuei, 'The Kabuki Actors Iwai Shijaku I and Bandô Jûtarô'

Shunbaisai Hokuei
'The Kabuki Actors Iwai Shijaku I and Bandô Jûtarô'
1832
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Diptych, two ôban-size sheets
Signature: Shunkôsai Hokuei
Museum no. E.3873-1916

This work is based on a play performed at the Naka-za Theatre in Osaka in September 1832, dealing with the conflicts in the Tsunaboshi family partly caused by the scheming of the villainous retainer Karahashi Daisuke. Daisuke's accomplice, Hanbei, kills the hero Dennai's fiancée and throws her over a cliff. Witnessing this, Lady Osuma, Dennai's sister-in-law, emerges from a cave and shines her torch on Hanbei. This is the moment that is so dramatically depicted in Hokuei's print.
  
 The print is augmented with a technique called kinginzuri or 'gold and silver printing', a technique whereby metal dusts such as powdered tin, copper and brass were used in imitation of silver and gold to enhance specific details of a design.

Hokuei, who specialised in Kabuki prints, was a follower of Hokusai. His works tend towards drama, violence and exaggeration.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP2.

Toyohara Kunichika, 'Kabuki Actors with a Steam Train in the Background'

Toyohara Kunichika
'Kabuki Actors with a Steam Train in the Background'
1872
Nishiki-e (brocade print)
Triptych, three ôban-size sheets
Signature: Toyohara Kunichika hitsu, Publisher: Tsujiokaya Bunsuke, Censorship seal: Mizunoe saru ku (September 1872)
Museum no. E.5289-1886

The first Japanese railway line opened between Shimbashi and Yokohama on 12 September 1872. This event is commemorated by the train in the background here, together with the depiction of the actor Kawarasaki Gonnosuke VII as Chôbei, and two other popular Kabuki stars, Sawamura Tosshô II and Onoe Kikugorô V, who appeared in a performance at the Morita-za Theatre in May of the same year.

Synthetic aniline dyes (which were first produced in 1856 in England) were introduced into ukiyo-e printing in the 1860s. Although they tended to be harsh and garish, in the hands of a skilled printer they could be used to striking and delicate effect.

Because these triptych prints have not been trimmed, the registration marks (kentô) at the bottom right and the lower left-hand side margins can be clearly seen today.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP2.

Utagawa Hiroshige, 'White Heron and Irises'

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
'White Heron and Irises'
About 1833
Nishiki-e (brocade print), kachô-ga (bird and flower print)
Ô-tanzaku size
Signature: Hiroshige hitsu
Museum no. E.2382-1912

A heron is depicted mid-flight behind a luxurious growth of irises, as if about to dive down to a river to catch its prey. The use of karazuri (blind-printing or gauffrage), a type of embossing, on the body of the heron not only creates a feeling of softness by lending extra depth to the print, but also serves to emphasise the whiteness of the bird.

Karazuri is a technique in which a pattern or texture (in this print, a feather pattern) is cut into a woodblock. The print is then placed face down onto the woodblock and the back of the paper is pressed and rubbed using a tool known as a baren.

One of Hiroshige's specialities was the kachô-ga (bird and flower print) genre. He conveys the intricate harmonies of nature in lush colours and with supreme skill in design and composition. The mood of his images is complemented by contemporary verses, either in Japanese or, as here, Chinese, relating to the theme of the print.

This print can be found in Japanese Print Room Box JP1.