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is a type of Japanese multi-coloured
woodblock printing Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is crea ...
; the technique is used primarily in
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 of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk ta ...
. It was invented in the 1760s, and perfected and popularized by the printmaker
Suzuki Harunobu Suzuki Harunobu ( ja, 鈴木 春信; ) was a Japanese designer of woodblock print art in the style. He was an innovator, the first to produce full-color prints () in 1765, rendering obsolete the former modes of two- and three-color prints. Haru ...
, who produced many ''nishiki-e'' prints between 1765 and his death five years later. Previously, most prints had been in black-and-white, coloured by hand, or coloured with the addition of one or two colour ink blocks. A ''nishiki-e'' print is created by carving a separate woodblock for every colour, and using them in a stepwise fashion. An engraver by the name of Kinroku is credited with the technical innovations that allowed so many blocks of separate colours to fit together perfectly on the page, in order to create a single complete image. This style and technique is also known as , referring to
Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...
, the name for Tokyo before it became the capital.


Edo Era

Nishiki-e is also known as Edo-e, or azuma-nishiki-e. The technology to produce nishiki-e made printing complex colors and figures easy. It became a popular commodity during Edo period. Due to the increasing number of nishiki-e shops during the era, the price of a nishiki-e dropped to an affordable 16 to 32
mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * A ...
.


Meiji Era

In the
Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
, various ''nishiki-e'' illustrated new fashions, imported goods, events, the railroad, and other new topics. "Newspaper nishiki-e" (新聞錦絵, ''shinbun nishiki-e'') were very popular among the public during this period. Print designers created ''nishiki-e'' on topics picked up from the newspapers such as ''Tōkyō Nichinichi Shinbun'' or ''Yūbin Hōchi Shinbun''. Woodblock prints soared in popularity during the first Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), with 3,000 prints produced during this 9-month period. These prints generally glorified the Japanese army while denigrating the Chinese. And the bright colours in the prints, exciting scenes, and inexpensive nature made them a good alternative to the black and white photographs of the time.


Taisho Era

Some of the most well-known printmakers in Taisho Period include Yamamoto Noboru, Ohara Kofun, and Sakamaki Kogyo. Overall, the amount of Nishiki-e print production decreased greatly in comparison to Meiji Period.


References

* Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2012). ''Suzuki Harunobu: 100 Beauties''. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B00AC2NB8Y * Munsterberg, Hugo (1957). "The Arts of Japan: An Illustrated History." Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company. * Paine, Robert Treat and Alexander Soper (1955). "The Art and Architecture of Japan." New Haven: Yale University Press.


External links


Ukiyo-e Caricatures 1842–1905
Database of the Department of East Asian Studies of the University of Vienna. All pictures of the database are nishiki-e.
Nishiki-e collection
from
Edo-Tokyo Museum The is a historical museum located at 1-4-1 Yokoami, Sumida-Ku, Tokyo in the Ryogoku district. The museum opened in March 1993 to preserve Edo's cultural heritage, and features city models of Edo and Tokyo between 1590 (just prior to the ...
{{Ukiyo-e Relief printing Ukiyo-e genres 1760s in art History of art in Japan