List of ukiyo-e terms
Encyclopedia
This is a list of terms frequently encountered in the description of ukiyo-e
style Japanese woodblock prints
and paintings.
Ukiyo-e
' is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters...
style Japanese woodblock prints
Woodblock printing in Japan
Woodblock printing in Japan is a technique best known for its use in the ukiyo-e artistic genre; however, it was also used very widely for printing books in the same period. Woodblock printing had been used in China for centuries to print books, long before the advent of movable type, but was only...
and paintings.
- Aizuri-eAizuri-eAizuri-e literally means “blue printed picture”. The term usually refers to Japanese woodblock prints that are printed entirely or predominantly in blue. When a second color is used, it is usually red...
- Aka-eAka-eAn Aka-e or “red picture” is a type of ukiyo-e that is printed entirely or predominantly in red. Aka-e were said to be talismans against smallpox, especially when they bore images of Shōki the demon queller...
- BarenBarenBaren is a Japanese hand tool used in printmaking processes such as woodcut or lino cut.The baren is a disk like device with a flat bottom and on the reverse side, a knotted handle...
- Benizuri-eBenizuri-e' are a type of “primitive” ukiyo-e style Japanese woodblock prints. They were usually printed in pink and green, occasionally with the addition of another color, either printed or added by hand. The production of benizuri-e reached its peak in the early 1740s...
- BijingaBijingaBijinga , is a generic term for pictures of beautiful women in Japanese art, especially in woodblock printing of the ukiyo-e genre, which predate photography...
- Bokashi (printing)Bokashi (printing)Bokashi is a technique used in Japanese woodblock printmaking. It achieves a variation in lightness and darkness of a single color by hand applying a gradation of ink to a moistened wooden printing block, rather than inking the block uniformly...
- Chūban, a print size about 7 by 10 inches (18 by 25 centimeters)
- Chūtanzaku, a print size about 14 by 5 inches (36 by 13 centimeters)
- Edo periodEdo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
- GeishaGeisha, Geiko or Geigi are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.-Terms:...
- Hashira-e, “pillar print”, about 28 by 4.5 inches (73 by 13 centimeters)
- Hosoban, a print size about 13 by 5 inches (33 by 14.5 centimeters)
- IseThe Tales of Iseis a Japanese collection of tanka poems and associated narratives, dating from the Heian period. The current version collects 125 sections, with each combining poems and prose, giving a total of 209 poems in most versions....
- Kakemono-e, an ōban diptych arranged one above the other (also a hanging scroll paintings)
- KamigataKamigataKamigata is a region of Japan referring to the cities of Kyoto and Osaka; the term is used particularly when discussing elements of Edo period urban culture such as ukiyo-e and kabuki, and when making a comparison to the urban culture of the Edo/Tokyo region.Kabuki, ukiyo-e, and many of the other...
- KappazuriKappazuriKappazuri, also known as kappa-zuri, kappazuri-e, and as katagamizuri-e, are Japanese prints printed in a single color from woodblocks and then colored by stenciling. Prints produced entirely by stenciling, without woodblocks, are also called kappazuri...
- KisokaidōThe Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso KaidoThe or Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Road, is a series of ukiyo-e works created by Utagawa Hiroshige and Keisai Eisen. There are 71 total prints in the series...
- Mameban, a print size about 4.75 by 3.2 inches (12 by 8 centimeters), sometimes called a “toy print”
- Mount Fuji36 Views of Mount FujiThirty-six Views of Mount Fuji is a series of woodblock prints by the 19th-century Japanese artist Hokusai.Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji may also refer to:...
- Namazu-e
- NikuhitsugaNikuhitsugaNikuhitsuga were a form of Japanese painting in the ukiyo-e art style. Though the woodblock prints of this genre have become so famous in the West as to become almost synonymous with the term "ukiyo-e", in fact most ukiyo-e artists were painters as well as printmakers, with much the same style...
- Nishiki-eNishiki-erefers to Japanese multi-colored woodblock printing; this technique is used primarily in ukiyo-e. It was invented in the 1760s, and perfected and popularized by the printmaker Suzuki Harunobu, who produced a great many nishiki-e prints between 1765 and his death five years later.Previously, most...
- Ōban, a print size about 15½ by 10½ inches (39 by 26.5 centimeters)
- Ōkubi-eOkubi-eAn ōkubi-e is a portrait print or painting showing only the head or the head and upper torso. Katsukawa Shunkō I is generally credited with producing the first ōkubi-e. He, along with Katsukawa Shunshō, only designed ōkubi-e of kabuki actors. In the early 1780s, Kitagawa Utamaro designed the...
- OsakaOsakais a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
- SchoolsSchools of ukiyo-e artistsUkiyo-e artists may be organized into schools, which consist of a founding artist and those artists who were taught by or strongly influenced by him. Artists of the Osaka school are united both stylistically and geographically...
- Shikishiban, a print size about 8 by 7 inches (21 by 18 centimeters) often used for surimonoSurimonoare a genre of Japanese woodblock print. They were privately commissioned for special occasions such as the New Year. Surimono literally means "printed thing". Being produced in small numbers for a mostly educated audience of literati, surimono were often more experimental in subject matter and...
- ShungaShunga' is a Japanese term for erotic art. Most shunga are a type of ukiyo-e, usually executed in woodblock print format. While rare, there are extant erotic painted handscrolls which predate the Ukiyo-e movement...
- SurimonoSurimonoare a genre of Japanese woodblock print. They were privately commissioned for special occasions such as the New Year. Surimono literally means "printed thing". Being produced in small numbers for a mostly educated audience of literati, surimono were often more experimental in subject matter and...
- Tate-e, a print in vertical or “portrait” format
- Tenpō reformsTenpo reformsThe were an array of economic policies introduced in 1842 by the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan.These reforms were efforts to resolve perceived problems in military, economic, agricultural, financial and religious systems....
- Tōkaidō
- UkiyoUkiyoUkiyo described the urban lifestyle, especially the pleasure-seeking aspects, of Edo-period Japan . The "Floating World" culture developed in Yoshiwara, the licensed red-light district of Edo , which was the site of many brothels, chashitsu tea houses, and kabuki theaters frequented by Japan's...
- Urushi-eUrushi-eUrushi-e , literally meaning "lacquer picture," refers to two types of Japanese artworks: paintings painted with actual lacquer, and particular woodblock printing styles which use regular ink but are said to resemble the darkness and thickness of black lacquer.-Prints:Urushi-e woodblock prints were...
- WashiWashiis a type of paper made in Japan. Washi is commonly made using fibers from the bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub , or the paper mulberry, but also can be made using bamboo, hemp, rice, and wheat...
- Yakusha-eYakusha-eYakusha-e , often referred to as "actor prints" in English, are Japanese woodblock prints or, rarely, paintings, of kabuki actors, particularly those done in the ukiyo-e style popular through the Edo period and into the beginnings of the 20th century...
- Yoko-e, a print in horizontal or “landscape” format
- Yokohama-eYokohama-eYokohama-e are ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock prints depicting foreigners and scenes of Yokohama. In 1859, the port of Yokohama was opened to foreigners, and ukiyo-e artists, primarily of the Utagawa school, produced more than 800 different woodblock prints in response to a general curiosity about...