Woodblock Prints

“The average citizen's mood of the Edo period (1603 - 1868) was an extremely buoyant and joyful one --- not the transitory, heavy atmosphere characteristic of the troubled Middle Ages. The word "ukiyo-e" means "picture of a buoyant (floating) world" and incorporates in its meaning the common man's daily pleasures, such as Kabuki plays, Geisha houses” and life in Edo markets. These prints show in great detail the customs, history and manners of old Japan including travel on the famed Tokaido Road to Kyoto. Printmaking is composed of the division of labor of many craftsmen, such as painters, engravers and printers, and needs at least the same number of different woodblocks as colors, often more than twenty wood-blocks. In the 1760s the multi-color wood-block prints called "nishiki-e" (brocade picture) was invented, a tradition that continued well into the 20th century.