ukiyo-e

ukiyo-e
Name	ukiyo-e
Year	17th–19th centuries
Country	Japan
Medium	Woodblock print, painting
Movement	Edo period art

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings that flourished from the early 17th century through the late 19th century, associated with the urban culture of Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto. It depicts courtesans, kabuki actors, landscapes, and scenes from literature, influencing international artists and movements in the 19th and 20th centuries. Ukiyo-e prints were produced by collaborative ateliers and circulated in popular and elite markets, intersecting with developments in publishing, travel, and modern visual culture.

History

Ukiyo-e emerged during the Edo period under the Tokugawa shogunate and expanded amid population growth in Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto, influenced by patronage from merchant classes and theatrical circles such as kabuki and bunraku. Early developments trace to artists associated with Kanō and Tosa lineages and print publishers active in Nagasaki, linked to figures like Hishikawa Moronobu and Suzuki Harunobu, and to later masters like Kitagawa Utamaro, Katsushika Hokusai, and Utagawa Hiroshige. The nineteenth century saw interactions with foreign actors including Commodore Matthew Perry and treaties such as the Treaty of Kanagawa, which contributed to the opening of ports and increased exchange with European collectors, dealers in Paris and London, and exhibitions that influenced Impressionists such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Vincent van Gogh. Meiji-era reforms and modernization policies challenged traditional production while new markets in Yokohama and Yokosuka fostered shin-hanga and sōsaku-hanga movements with artists like Hashiguchi Goyō and Kawase Hasui.

Subjects and Themes

Common subjects include bijin-ga portraits of courtesans and geisha; yakusha-e images of kabuki actors such as Ichikawa Danjūrō and Onoe Kikugorō; landscapes depicting travel routes like the Tōkaidō and sites named in The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and One Hundred Famous Views of Edo; historical scenes from the Genpei War and stories of Minamoto no Yoshitsune; literature and poetry drawn from The Tale of Genji, The Tale of Heike, Nō plays, and kyōka verses; sumo wrestling bouts featuring wrestlers like Raiden Tameemon; and erotic shunga prints circulated alongside censures from Tokugawa censors. Prints frequently reference locations such as Mount Fuji, Lake Biwa, Shinagawa, and Ueno, and characters from kabuki repertoires and bunraku troupes.

Techniques and Materials

Ukiyo-e production combined the skills of designers, carvers, printers, and publishers; famous workshops and publishers operated in districts like Nihonbashi and Asakusa. Designs by artists such as Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro, and Kunisada were carved into cherrywood blocks by specialist carvers and printed in pigments including indigo and beni (carmine) using washi paper made in Mino and Echizen provinces. Techniques evolved from benizuri-e and urushi-e to full polychrome nishiki-e pioneered by publishers like Tsutaya Jūzaburō and Senkakudō, and later experiments involved collotype, bokashi gradation, mica (kirazuri), and embossing (karazuri). Workshop practices connected with publishing houses such as Eijudō and Tsuruya, and with print sellers in Ginza and Nihonbashi, shaping distribution networks reaching Nagasaki and Yokohama ports.

Major Artists and Schools

Prominent artists and lineages include Hishikawa Moronobu, Torii school printmakers linked to the Torii family and kabuki promotion such as Torii Kiyonaga and Torii Kiyomasu; Utagawa school masters like Utagawa Kunisada, Utagawa Hiroshige, and Utagawa Kuniyoshi; Hokusai of the Katsushika area; Kitagawa Utamaro from Edo; and later contributors to shin-hanga and sōsaku-hanga movements including Hasui Kawase, Torii Kotondo, and Hashiguchi Goyō. Other notable figures and studios connected with printmaking include Yoshitoshi of the Tsukioka family, Keisai Eisen, Isoda Koryūsai, and artists associated with publishers such as Tsutaya, Eijudō, and Iseya. Regional schools emerged in Osaka and Kyoto with artists like Utagawa Kuniteru and Ikkei, while specialized carvers and printers such as Egawa Tōyō and Nishimura Yohachi played essential roles.

Social and Cultural Impact

Ukiyo-e shaped urban visual culture across Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto, influencing theater publicity, travel culture, fashion, and the circulation of celebrity images of actors, courtesans, and sumo wrestlers. Internationally, prints collected by Europeans and Americans affected movements including Impressionism and Art Nouveau, informing works by Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and James McNeill Whistler, and contributing to Japonisme in museums and galleries in Paris, London, New York, and Amsterdam. Domestic reforms and censorship regimes under Tokugawa and Meiji authorities periodically targeted subjects including political caricature and shunga; intellectuals, publishers, and artists negotiated legal frameworks set by bakufu edicts and later Meiji laws. Print markets fostered collecting practices among patrons, literati salons, and foreign dealers such as Siebold and von Siebold’s circle.

Collecting and Preservation

Collectors and institutions such as the British Museum, Musée Guimet, Tokyo National Museum, Rijksmuseum, and Metropolitan Museum of Art hold extensive ukiyo-e holdings acquired through dealers, auctions, and donations from collectors like Philippe Burty, Ernest Fenollosa, and Charles Lang Freer. Conservation challenges include paper acidity, insect damage, fading of organic pigments like safflower and cochineal, and mounting issues in album leaves and emakimono; preservation practices employ climate control, deacidification, and conservation mounts by trained paper conservators. Catalogues raisonnés, auction houses in Paris, London, and Tokyo, and collections at universities and municipal museums support scholarship, digitization projects, and exhibitions that illuminate provenance, restoration histories, and attribution debates involving signatures, seals, and publisher imprints.

Category:Japanese art