History of Ukiyo-e Wood Block Prints and Emaki Hand Scrolls

In Japan, tradition and the ancient times dominate Japanese culture. Nowhere can one find this more eloquently displayed than in their art. When one views japanese hand scrolls, or emaki, one views a Chinese art that was introduced to Japan in the eighth century. Early Japanese hand scrolls depicted the text of a Buddhist sutra, with images deemed appropriate interspersed in. Over time, however, the hand scrolls evolved into a different, and sometimes comedic, medium to portray the traditional Japanese images.

One would call the hand scroll viewing an “intimate experience.” Generally, the viewer would unravel small sections of this scroll, to view a story painted on the scroll. As time went on, painters started to link the sections together using various methods, like clouds, would link the images together.
The images depicted on the hand scrolls changed based on the times. As previously stated, the hand scrolls started with Buddhist sutras and branched out. By the end of the Heian Period, the hand scrolls encompassed many different subjects.

Japanese Wood Block Prints, or more specifically, the ukiyo-e wood block prints, on the other hand, portray an entire scene on a small block of wood, as one would discern from the name. As with the hand scrolls, wood block prints originated in china. In another similarity with hand scrolls, wood block prints first depicted Buddhist sutras. Originally, the Japanese would print the wood block prints in black ink, and for over nine hundred years, the prints would remain in black, and only in black.

The ukiyo-e style wood block prints depict “scenes of harmony and carefree everyday living.” The style originated in the mid 17th century, and started out drawn in exclusively India ink, but in the 18th century Suzuki Harunobu discovered a manner of multicolored painting wood block prints, known as nishiki-e.

Ukiyo-e wood block prints appealed to the Japanese people because the artists made ukiyo-e for the townsmen, not the artisans. Using tracing paper, one could create many copies of a single ukiyo-e wood block print. The simple methods with which to copy them, and consequently the low price of the prints led to their immense popularity among commoners in Japan.

To make an ukiyo-e print to mass-produce, an artist went through a lengthy process. First, the artist would construct a master print, and send it off to an assistant. Afterwards, an assistant would trace it and send the trace off to a craftsman, who created a relief print to copy to the new image. After this, they send the copy to the original artist for approval, and once that is done, the printing begins.

Ukiyo-e covered many different subjects. However, the target audience limited much of what the prints covered. Due to the prints mainly targeting commoners, the prints rarely featured anyone outside of the lower strata of society. Politics also rarely appeared in these prints. Ukiyo-e wood block prints mainly focused on city life, and more specifically, on the entertainment industry. If one would look at an ukiyo-e print, they would see actors, sumo wrestlers, and courtesans.

Neither image from the wall scroll section will have the full image, as the whole images are too long for the screen, and the best images are segmented.

sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukiyo-e
http://www.asianartmall.com/AboutWoodBlockPrints.html
http://web-japan.org/museum/emaki/about_em.html
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~arth17/HandScrolls.html
http://www.google.com (for the images)