A Short History of Ukioy-e
By Chuck Wiebe

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During the Tokugawa period in Japan, from 1818 to 1868, the art of woodblock printing was to achieve the highest level of perfection ever attained. The technique had been used in Japan and China for hundreds of years, but the woodcut did not become a popular art form until the Seventeenth Century.

In Japan, woodcuts were usually made through the collaboration of the artist and the several specialized craftsmen, all under the direction of the jihon-don'ya, or publisher. The artist would create a sketch, using brush and ink on paper. The finished drawing, called the hanshita-e, would be pasted to a block of mountain cherry wood, or yamazakura, by the engraver who would carve out the areas around the artist's lines, leaving the lines in relief. These raised areas would then be brushed with a water-based vegetable ink. The printer would then place a damp piece of mulberry bark paper over the block and rub the paper with a pad made of bamboo fibers called a barren until the image was transferred to the paper. This process was repeated for each color.

These slips of paper came to be known by the term Ukiyo-e or literally, pictures of the fleeting, floating world. This term, which is used to describe all woodcuts made during the Tokugawa period, was derived from the early subjects of the prints which were usually taken from the leisure pursuits of the merchant class of Edo, now called Tokyo. The citizens of Edo, having little else to purchase, squandered most of their earnings on pleasures of the flesh. The motto of the day was, "never let tomorrow's sun rise on today's wages." Among the most common scenes depicted were the courtesans of the Yoshiwara section of Edo. Other popular pastimes rendered were the viewing of cherry blossoms by moonlight, as well as scenes from the Kabuki Theater. Ryoi, in his novel Ukiyo monogatari (Tales of the Floating World), written around 1861, gives us a good description of this lifestyle… "Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasure of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves; singing songs, drinking wine, diverting ourselves in just floating; caring not a whit 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 the floating world…"

Japanese woodcuts were not known in the West until the1850's when a copy of Hokusai's Manga was found by the etcher Braquemond, evidently being used as packing material for Japanese ceramics being shipped to France.(Braquemond was so impressed by the volume that he carried it with him every day for the rest of his life.) Ever since they have had a profound impact on Western art. Among the better known artists to be directly influenced by these prints were: Van Gogh, Manet, Degas, Cassatt, Monet, Pissarro, Toulousse-Lautrec, Whistler, Gauguin, and Seurat.

Many of our greatest connoisseurs have been avid collectors of Ukiyo-e. Men such as: Henri Vever, Ernst Fenollosa, Arthur Ficke, Frank Lloyd Wright, and James Michener. A great number of artists came to prominence during the 250-year history of Ukiyo-e, however, we have time to deal only with a selected few masters. Hishigawa Moronobu was the first great print artist. He lived between 1618 and 1694. Moronobu and his followers, known as the Nishikawa School, had a virtual monopoly in the field of woodblock prints during the Genroku period (1688-1704). Moronobu was the first to design single-sheet prints. He depicted the life of the Yoshiwara and the Kabuki theatre. His drawing is sparse; he achieved a feeling of life and movement in the careful placing of his figures. Moronobu's prints were usually monochromatic (sumizuri-e), but occasionally were hand-colored (these were called beni-e). His prints were rarely signed, and there are very few in existence today.

As the Nishikawa School declined a new school, the Torii, became prominent. Torii Kiyonobu (1664-1729) was the founder of this school which was to dominate theater prints for almost seventy-five years. Kiyonobu designed portraits of actors, as well as posters (kamban-e), and programs (bansuke). He specialized in portraying actors in aragoto, or rough roles, and used techniques such as mimi-zugaki (literally, earthworm brush strokes). These earthworm strokes were bold lines which varied in thickness to produce the desired virility in his portraits. Kiyonobu's may be contrasted with Torii Kiyomasu, who worked between 1690 and 1710. Kiyomasu lacks the vigor of Kiyonobu, but displays more grace and sensitivity. However, at times, their styles seem indistinguishable.

In the early seventeenth century another great school flourished, the Kaigetsudos. They specialized in the other popular Ukiyo-e motif, bijin, or beautiful woman. Their prints were usually made in the large toku oban format. The founder of the group is believed to be Kaigetsudo Anchi, who worked around 1710. Other members of school include: Dohan, Doshin, Doshu, and Doshu. Their graceful linear styles are so similar that one time their prints were all considered the work of one artist. They are perhaps the rarest of the Japanese woodcuts.

Okumbura Masanobu (1686-1764) was perhaps the greatest of the Primitives. He was among the first to make color prints. These were made by carving two additional blocks, one for green, and one for pint. Sometimes other colors were added. These early color woodcuts are called benisuri-e. Masanobu's style evolved from the earlier work of the Torii and Moronobu to a more sophisticated emotional treatment of the figures. We have had time to mention but a few of the Primitives, for we must move on to the renowned Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770). He has been credited with the invention of the nishiki-e, or brocade print. This was the first full-color woodcut. Harunobu also popularized the smaller chuban format print, as well as the hashira-e, or pillar print, which was made for the adornment of the roof support post of the traditional Japanese house. He was the first to make use of karazuri and kimekomi, the raised or embossed effects which are created when areas of the block surface are left without color. In Harunobu's earlier period he made some theatre prints, but he is better known for approximately five hundred prints that he made during the last five years of his life. These depicted a colorful world of charming courtesans and young men. Harunobu was very active in the intellectual circles of Edo, and many of his prints are based on classical themes. His innocent young girls were criticized for being too sentimental, but his greatness as an innovator cannot be disputed. The next great school of the late eighteenth century was the Katsukawa. Katsukawa Shunsho (1726-1792) is best known for his theatrical woodcuts, although he also made many wrestler prints. The actors he depicted were not only represented as they appeared on stage, but also in their dressing rooms. He often depicted individual characteristics of actors. Shunsho was extremely popular, and dominated the actor print field for many years. Katsukawa Shunsen (1762-1830) is known for his courtesan prints, genre scenes, and fukeiga, or landscapes. The latter are among the first to show the influence of Western perspective. These would have great influence on his followers, in particular, Hokusai and Hiroshige. At the peak of his career however, Shunsen gave up print designing and began decorated porcelain.

Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815) ushered in the Ukiyo-e zenseiki, or so-called "Golden Age of Ukioy-e." This is the period that saw the art of Japanese print reach its full maturity. Kiyonaga designed woodcuts for very short period of time (1781-1786), yet his work was of great influence on almost every artist during the last portion of eighteenth century. Kiyonaga showed great originality, both in craftsmanship and in coloring. He designed a large number of prints, mainly of courtesans, musicians, and poets. His most famous series is Tesei Yuri Awase (present day beauties of the Yoshiwara), Fuzoku Azuma Nishiki (customs of Eastern Japan in polychrome), and Sinami Juniko (the twelve months in the South). In later years, Kiyonaga competed with Utamaro, but his work declined, and in 1790, he abandoned prints and concentrated on painting.

Kitagawa Utamaro (1754-1806) has a great reputation in the West. Like Haranobu he was a very important figure in Edo cultural groups, but curiously little was known of his life. However, we do know that he was arrested and jailed for publishing a print in defiance of the government. Utamaro's early work bears resemblance to Kiyonaga's, but his mature works after 1780 have their own distinctive style. His technical skills were unsurpassed. The courtesan prints of the 1790s are perhaps his finest works, but his later prints are remarkable for their complexity. His portraits of beauties are unique in that each woman seems to have her own personality; although it is generally thought that he never actually used models from life for his figures. Utamaro is considered by many collectors in the West to be the greatest of all Japanese artists, and his finest prints are among the most sought after.

Toshusai Sharaku is one the most enigmatic figures in the history of art. Almost nothing is known about his life. Sharaku was said to be a No actor named Saito Jurobei, but there is little proof of this. We are aware of only 159 extraordinary prints made in only ten months between 1794 and 1795. He made only portraits of actors, usually on a silvery mica background. The features of the actors are distorted as if in caricature. It is said that because of his sarcastic portrayal of them in his prints he became very unpopular among the actors, and as a result he had a very short career. Sharaku's prints separately did not gain a wide public audience either, and he seems to have had almost no influence in Japan, or in the West. Utamaro said of his prints, "They are portraits showing the least attractive of human traits." In Ukiyo-e Ruiko, a contemporary study of the print art, his portraits are described as "badly drawn, in an attempt to exaggerate reality," and as being of no enduring interest. Yet today his woodcuts are among the most valuable prints ever created, and he ranks with the most prominent figures in Japanese art.

In 1790 the Tokugawa government placed a ban on "luxury items," this included some of the materials such as mica and quartz which were used to make many of the finer quality prints. This ban marked what many early critics called the beginning of the decline of Ukiyo-e, the so-called "decadent period." The man who is most often credited with the resurrection of the art is Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Hokusai is considered one of the greatest draftsmen of all time. Hokusai is just one of the fifty names he used during his lifetime. He is said to have changed his residence over ninety times, and during his lengthy career made over 300,000 prints, sketches, and paintings. He is perhaps best known for his landscapes, which were influenced by Chinese and Western models. The most famous series is The Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, among this series is the dramatic Hollow of the Deep Sea Wave, one of the most familiar images ever made. Hokusai is also known for his book illustrations, including the popular Manga, which features fifteen volumes of sketches on just about any subject imaginable. Its scope may be compared to the notebooks of Leonardo. Hokusai's art never remained static; he was always experimenting, even well into his eightieth year. In his old age, Hokusai wrote, "From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was fifty I had published a universe of designs. But all I have done before the age of seventy is not worth bothering with. At seventy-five I learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am eight you will see real progress. At ninety I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At a hundred I shall be a marvelous artist. At a hundred and ten everything I create, a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokusai, but today I sign myself "The Old-Man-Mad-About-Drawing." He never reached his ninetieth birthday, dying at eighty-nine.

Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825) was the best known artist of the Utagawa School, and perhaps the most popular artist of his time. He is best remembered for his vibrant actor portraits. Toyokuni was a brilliant draftsman and had many followers, the best of which was Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864) who in 1844 changed his name, as was often the custom, to that of his late master. Kunisada designed great quantities of actor and courtesan prints. His style evolved from rather simplified linear designs in the earlier decades of the century into elaborate patterns using dozens of extremely brilliant colors. During his lifetime he was considered the greatest of all the Ukiyo-e artists and triptychs fetched very large sums. Kunisada was perhaps financially the most successful print artist. The writer Kanagaki recalled that at one time, "the word Ukiyo-e meant only one thing-Kunisada." His reputation in this century, however, has suffered somewhat, mainly because recently, experts have begun to look more favorably on his later work. Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) was also a pupil of Toyokuni, but seems to have been virtually unknown until he was rediscovered rather recently. He ranks with Hokusai in his diversity and great output, Laurence Binyon wrote that Kuniyoshi "stands by himself, be breaks free from his school, and in his own province, the dramatic, rises to great heights." He is known for his warrior prints and his depictions of Japanese history and myths. He also completed a series of landscapes using Western perspective. Kuniyoshi was the first Japanese to use chiaroscuro, and is said to have remarked that "the only true art is that of the West." He was a great lover of cats and would use every opportunity to use them in his compositions. He had a compassion for the bizarre, and some of his prints may be described as grotesque. His best work is evidence of his unbounded imagination and inventiveness. He ranks with the greatest masters of the Japanese print.

Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858) is the last of the great Ukiyo-e masters, and perhaps the most familiar in the West. He is known for his landscapes, as well as many bird and flower prints. Hiroshige's most famous series is The 53 Stations on the Tokaido Road, which consisted of a view of each stop on Japan's most famous road between Edo and Kyoto. Other well-known series are One Hundred Views of Edo and The Sixty-Odd Provinces. His prints reveal his great technical skill, as well as his keen powers of observation. Hiroshige was extremely prolific. We know of over 8,000 designs from his hand. He had many pupils, the most famous of which was Hiroshige II. Unlike Hokusai, Hiroshige had a rather uneventful life. His farewell verse reads, "Leaving my brush behind in Edo, I set forth on a new journey, let me sightsee all the famous views in Paradise." The death of Hiroshige is generally regarded by scholars as the end of Ukiyo-e. However, the art of woodblock printing continued into the twentieth century and there were several artists who managed, in a least a few of their prints, to rise above the general low standard set in the late 1800s. Two such artists were Kunichika and Yoshitoshi. The former is known for his theater prints, with their bold actors in distorted poses. Yoshitoshi has only recently been recognized for his designs based on ancient myths and his accounts of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894. A great many artists were active during this period, but aside from a few exceptions, their work has little aesthetic significance.