Ukiyo-e

Ukiyo-e (pronounced you-KEE-oh-eh) is a style of Japanese art using woodcuts that was popular during the Edo (or Tokugawa) period (1603–1868). Meaning "pictures of the floating world" in Japanese, this genre of art depicted everyday scenes of life in the city of Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and other urban centers. Ukiyo-e relied on thick black lines outlining the images that were often contrasted with a pastiche of subtle colors in later works.

Background

Prior to 1600, Japan had been engaged in a century-long era of near-constant war. Called the Sengoku period or the Warring States era, this time was marked by its lack of central power. In the resulting vacuum, regional warlords called daimyo began to carve out small empires for themselves while competing with rival clans for territory. However, in the early seventeenth century, Japan was again unified under the leadership of the Tokugawa family.

The following Edo period in Japanese history was one of comparative political stability and economic prosperity. During this period, Japan saw the growth of a new middle class made up of artisans and merchants. In the 1630s, Japan pursued increasingly isolationist foreign policies called sakoku, in which links to the outside world were exclusively limited to trade with Dutch and Chinese merchants in the city of Nagasaki. Citizens of Japan were forbidden from leaving the country, and foreigners were barred from entering. Under these severe restrictions, Japan began an internalized cultural renaissance. Several new art forms flourished, including the Rinpa painting style, kabuki plays, and ukiyo-e woodblock printing. In conjunction with this cultural isolation, the country's urban centers—particularly the cities of Edo and Kyoto—began to see dramatic growth. The simultaneous growth of both the middle classes and the cities led to the establishment of a social class of urban dwellers with disposable income.

The Tokugawa shogunate, in their desire to assert their control over society, responded to this cultural shift by creating walled entertainment districts in the major cities. Social hierarchies during the Edo period had a strictly defined order, with warriors and the ruling elites at the top, followed by farmers and artisans, with merchants placed at the bottom. However, in the entertainment districts, there was a social meritocracy where all classes could mingle and interact on equal terms.

These pleasure districts were colorful centers filled with brothels, teahouses, and theaters populated by geishas, courtesans, kabuki actors, and artists. In this creative environment, artists found new inspiration in the lively communities that formed. Using existing woodblock styles, they found new means of expression, as well as a new audience of customers seeking to indulge in the purchase of inexpensive mass-produced prints. Newly wealthy merchants also served as patrons for master artists, enabling them to dedicate themselves to more ornate, specialized works.

The height of the ukiyo-e art form is generally placed at the end of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when such masters as Katsushika Hokusai, Kitagawa Utamaro, and Andō Hiroshige were practicing the craft. During the Meiji era (1868–1912) of Japanese history, the introduction of Western technologies and the unrestrained influence of Western culture led to a decline in traditional ukiyo-e printing. As ukiyo-e was a labor-intensive art form with associations to traditional Japan, it was unable to compete with such Western innovations as photography. Nonetheless, traditional ukiyo-e art persisted into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, where new generations of artists continued to use traditional art forms to depict contemporary imagery.

Composition and Characteristics

Ukiyo-e combines two traditional Japanese arts: woodblock cutting and painted art. Woodblock printing is a Chinese invention from the third century CE in which a block of wood is carved into the reverse image of the desired picture or text. The first known Japanese texts using woodblock are from the eighth century. By 1600, the Japanese began using the technique to print black-and-white artistic imagery that would often, but not always, be later colored in by hand. By 1765, new techniques allowed artists to use a variety of colors for single-sheet prints. Later artistic developments enabled artists to simulate embossed figures.

A print in the ukiyo-e style was the work of several artists, including the illustrator, the woodblock carver, the printer, and the publisher. In some cases, a calligrapher would later add accompanying text. Generally, the work would be ascribed to the illustrator or publisher, although each of these artists played a vital role in the final product. Carving was a specialized and time-consuming part of the process in particular, as colored (polychrome) images would require ten to twenty carved woodblocks for every image—one block for every color used.

Ukiyo-e prints were created by having an artist sketch an image on paper. This image would then be traced onto a separate type of transparent paper. This paper would be attached to the woodblock, and the carver would cut out the image in reverse into the wood. On monochromatic and hand-colored images, the areas to be colored would be raised in relief. Ink was placed onto the woodblock, with a piece of paper laid on top of the carved image. Finally, a round pad would be gently applied to the back of the paper so that the image from the block was stamped onto the sheet. This method would allow multiple images (or textual works) to be printed from the same woodblock. The ukiyo-e methods of mass production also enabled the Japanese to print inexpensive picture books (called ehon) from a single set of woodblocks.

The most popular subjects of ukiyo-e prints transformed over time. The first ukiyo-e imagery focused on scenes from the pleasure quarters. Colorful courtesans, geishas, and other beautiful women depicted using graceful, smooth lines to simulate their delicacy, attractiveness, and style (a genre of art known as bijin-ga) were particularly popular. Other common subjects included kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, and scenes from tea and bathhouses. Over time, common ukiyo-e subject matters changed to reflect evolving cultural sentiments and tastes. Panoramic vistas of nature became increasingly popular, followed by erotic imagery (called shunga), and famous scenes from Buddhist and Japanese history. When the ban on foreigners was finally lifted in 1866, Westerners were perceived as exotic figures whose clothing and customs became regular subjects of ukiyo-e art.

Topic Today

Ukiyo-e art remains an important art form in contemporary Japan. Many Ukiyo-e pieces have been heavily reproduced and sought after by collectors. Some of the most notable works include Kanagawa-oki Nami Ura, meaning "Under The Great Wave of Kanagawa" (1831) by Hokusai, Kameido Umeyashiki, meaning "The Plum Garden at Kameido Shrine" (1857) by Andō Hiroshige, and Kisokaido rokujukyu tsugi no uchi, meaning “Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido" (1835) by Utagawa Hiroshige. The distinctive thick lines associated with the ukiyo-e style have heavily influenced the anime and manga art forms popular in the twenty-first century.

Some twenty-first-century artists have transformed ukiyo-e art into contemporary pieces to bring the style back into use. For example, Japanese painter Shisamu Iwase, who often works under the name Ukiyoemon, creates ukiyo-e style paintings using traditional methods, but the themes and subjects of his work are modern and edgy, incorporating technology and modern humor. He aims to bring “the wind of the eras to the present.”

Bibliography

Abe, Mika. Utagawa Hiroshige: Seeing Landscapes through His Eyes. Kyoto UP, 2023.

Amsden, Dora, and Woldemar von Seidlitz. Impressions of Ukiyo-e. Parkstone Press, 2007.

"Art of the Pleasure Quarters and the Ukiyo-e Style." Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oct. 2004, www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/plea/hd‗plea.htm. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

Bell, David. Chushingura and the Floating World: The Representation of Kanadehon Chushingura in Ukiyo-e Prints. Routledge, 2016.

Davis, Julie Nelson. Picturing the Floating World: Ukiyo-E in Context. U of Hawaiʻi P, 2021.

Davis, Julie Nelson, and Utamaro Kitagawa. Utamaro and the Spectacle of Beauty. Rev. 2nd ed., Reaktion Books, 2021.

"The Floating World of Ukiyo-E." Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/exhibits/ukiyo-e/intro.html. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

Harris, Frederick. Ukiyo-e: The Art of the Japanese Print. Tuttle Publishing, 2010.

Khoury, Mizuki. "The Artist Bringing Back Ukiyo-e in 21st Japan." Sabukaru, 17 Dec. 2022, sabukaru.online/articles/the-artist-bringing-back-ukiyo-e-in-21st-japan. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

Uspensky, Mikhail. Hiroshige. Parkstone Press, 2013.