''Bokashi'' (Japanese: ぼかし) is a technique used in Japanese woodblock printmaking. It achieves a variation in lightness and darkness (

value Value or values may refer to: Ethics and social * Value (ethics) wherein said concept may be construed as treating actions themselves as abstract objects, associating value to them ** Values (Western philosophy) expands the notion of value beyo ...

) of a single color or multiple colors by hand applying a gradation of ink to a moistened wooden printing block, rather than inking the block uniformly. This hand-application had to be repeated for each sheet of paper that was printed. The best-known examples of bokashi are in the 19th-century ''

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...

'' works of

Hokusai , known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the ...

and

Hiroshige Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format l ...

, in which the fading of

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dyes in skies and water create an illusion of depth. In later works by

, for example the series ''

One Hundred Famous Views of Edo ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo'' (in ja, 名所江戸百景, Meisho Edo Hyakkei) is a series of 119 ukiyo-e prints begun and largely completed by the Japanese artist Hiroshige (1797–1858). The prints were first published in serialized form i ...

'', most prints originally featured bokashi such as red-to-yellow-to-blue color sunrises.

Techniques

Gradations can be created on the blocks themselves using the ' technique, or brushed on by hand using '. They can also be done freehand directly onto a print, without using a printing block.

''Fukibokashi''

' requires gradations of ink to be applied to the printing block. This is not a precise technique; its results are inconsistent from print to print. The technique ' (, "straight-line bokashi") is the one associated with the works of Hokusai and Hiroshige to represent the horizon, sea, or sky. Ink is applied to one end of the brush (''kata-bake'') which is drawn across the desired portion of the printing block; this area is first wetted with a ' cloth, so that the ink bleeds somewhat across the wet area. This creates a gradation at the width of the brush. Straight line gradation with an uneven edge is known as ''ichimoji-mura-bokashi''. In ' () two colours are worked toward each other, achieved by applying two inks to opposite edges of the brush. In ' a flat colour is printed, and then the same printing block is washed and re-brushed with a ' effect to overprint over the first; this technique is seen on the dark peak of Mount Fuji in Hokusai's ''

Fine Wind, Clear Morning , also known as ''Red Fuji'', is a woodblock print by Japanese artist Hokusai (1760–1849), part of his '' Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji'' series, dating from to 1832. The work has been described as "one of the simplest and at the same time on ...

''. ''O-bokashi'' (wide gradation). A difficult skill. To achieve gradation of a large area, the standard ''ichimonji'' technique is repeated multiple times using different brushes, narrowing the space to be shaded each time. ''Ate-nashi-bokashi'' (gradation without definition) is used for soft modulations of color, such as rosy cheeks.

''Itabokashi''

''Itabokashi'', or 'block shading,' is a technique used to produce ruffled edges on areas of color. It is produced by first cutting an area slightly larger than needed for a color, then abrading the edges of that area to make the transition from that color less sharp. This is commonly used in clouds and shading.

Freehand techniques

Some techniques are performed freehand, without using a printing block, and results can vary considerably from print to print. ' is used for finer details, such as around eyes, and requires the artist to draw with a brush loaded with ink on a wetted area; as with ', the bleeding of the ink into the water creates gradations. ' is similar, requiring the wetting of areas to be inked, and is used for details such as clouds.

References

Works cited

* *

External links

A demonstration of bokashi starts at 55:00 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bokashi (Printing) Ukiyo-e techniques Printmaking