sumizuri-e on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Sumizuri-e is a type of monochromatic woodblock printing that uses only black ink. It is one of the earliest forms of
Sumizuri-e is a type of monochromatic woodblock printing that uses only black ink. It is one of the earliest forms of Japanese woodblock printing
Woodblock printing in Japan (, ''mokuhanga'') is a technique best known for its use in the ''ukiyo-e'' artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period (160 ...
, dating back to the Nara period
The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...
(710 – 794).
'' Sumi-e'' translates to “ink wash painting,” which is a type of East Asian brush painting technique that uses black ink. The oldest example of sumizuri-e printing was discovered in the One Million Pagodas. These Pagodas were religious works commissioned by the Empress Shōtoku
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
to be distributed to Japan's ten major temples. The miniature wooden pagodas were made to honor the Buddhist deities and thank them for holding back the Emi Rebellion
The , also known as the Emi Rebellion, was a short-lived and unsuccessful Nara period military confrontation in Japan resulting from a power struggle between former Empress Kōken and the main political figure of the time, Fujiwara no Nakamaro fr ...
of 764. Inside of these relics, each pagoda contains a ''darani,'' or Buddhist invocation, that was printed on small scrolls. Historians believe this is the oldest example of sumizuri-e printmaking, but due to their religious importance, it is antagonistic to remove and study all of the sutra scrolls. X-ray photos are used to observe these pagodas from a distance and allow researchers to recreate the sutras. The technology is employed to detect the age and wear of the scrolls.
As the printmaking movement developed, artists began painting the sumizuri-e prints by hand to color in the images (kappazuri-e
, also known as ''kappa-zuri'', ''kappazuri-e'' (), and as ''katagamizuri-e'' (), are Japanese prints printed in a single color (usually black) from woodblocks and then colored by stenciling. Prints produced entirely by stenciling, without woo ...
).
References
{{ukiyo-e Painting Relief printing Japanese art