Yoshida Hanbei (吉田半兵衛) was a late seventeenth-century Japanese illustrator in the ''

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 ...

'' style, the leading illustrator in Kyoto and Osaka around 1664–1689. Unlike many more famous ukiyo-e artists, who worked primarily on individual

woodblock prints 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 create ...

and paintings, Hanbei worked primarily, if not exclusively, in illustrations for woodblock printed books. Alternatively known as Yoshida Sadakichi, his name is also sometimes romanized as Hambei. Hanbei was the first ukiyo-e book illustrator of

Kamigata Kamigata (上方) was the colloquial term for a region today called Kansai (''kan'', barrier; ''sai'', west) in Japan. This large area encompasses the cities of Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. The term is used particularly when discussing elements of Edo ...

to sign his works. One of the most prolific artists in early ukiyo-e, he produced work for at least ninety different books, amounting to over one thousand individual illustrations. His work appeared in a myriad of texts, including books of '' jōruri'' puppet plays,

Kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

, novels, travel books, Buddhist subjects, musical texts, and courtesan critiques, among others. He is particularly famous for his illustrations of novels by Saikaku, and for his ''Joyō Kimmō-zui'' (女用訓蒙図彙, "Ladies' Pictorial Encyclopedia"), which shows off kimono fashions. Deriving his style from those of the anonymous Kyoto-area illustrators who preceded him, Hanbei's only teacher to be known by name is Shōgorō; however, nothing signed by the teacher remains extant today. As larger-size art books and albums were yet to become common, Hanbei's monochrome works in the restricted medium of book illustrations did not allow him to show great individuality or creativity, outside of a few works of ''

shunga is a type of Japanese erotic art typically executed as a kind of ukiyo-e, often in woodblock print format. While rare, there are also extant erotic painted handscrolls which predate ukiyo-e. Translated literally, the Japanese word ''shunga'' ...

'' (erotic images) he produced. Richard Lane writes of Hanbei, that "his illustrations are consistently adroit and well thought out but clearly the work of a talented master rather than of an artistic genius." Lane, Richard (1978). "Images of the Floating World." Old Saybrook, Connecticut: Konecky & Konecky. It is believed that Hanbei either died or retired in 1690; two disciples of his took over book illustration for the region, but did not sign their works, leaving them anonymous.

Notes

References

* Lane, Richard. (1978). ''Images from the Floating World, The Japanese Print.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press.
OCLC 5246796
Ukiyo-e artists Japanese illustrators Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown {{printmaker-stub