The ''Ukiyo-e Ruikō'' (, "Various Thoughts on Ukiyo-e") is a Japanese collection of commentaries and biographies of

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

artists. It did not appear in print during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

in which it was produced, but was circulated in handwritten copies subject with numerous additions and alterations. The writer

Ōta Nanpo was the most oft-used pen name of Ōta Tan, a late Edo-period Japanese poet and fiction writer. Ōta Nanpo wrote primarily in the comedic forms of '' kyōshi'', derived from comic Chinese verse, and '' kyōka'', derived from '' waka'' poetry. Ō ...

produced the first version in 1790. More than 120 variants of the ''Ukiyo-e Ruikō'' are known. An edition with updates by

Santō Kyōden was a Japanese people, Japanese Poet, artist, writer, and the owner of a tobacco shop during the Edo period. His real name was , and he was also known popularly as . He began his professional career illustrating the works of others before writ ...

, Sasaya Shishichi Kuninori, and

Shikitei Sanba , better known by his pen name , was a Japanese comic writer of the Edo period. Major works *''Ukiyoburo'' *''Ukiyodoko'' References

1776 births 1822 deaths Writers of the Edo period {{Japan-writer-stub ...

in 1802 is the earliest extant copy, produced under the title ''Ukiyo-e Kōshō''. This version lists 37 artists and focuses mainly on ukiyo-e painters and major print designers. The ''Ukiyo-e Ruikō'' ranks artists regarded for their paintings higher than those mainly associated with their print designs, and highlights artists training in painterly schools such as the Kanō or painting traditions such as

Yamato-e is a style of Japanese painting inspired by Tang dynasty paintings and fully developed by the late Heian period. It is considered the classical Japanese style. From the Muromachi period (15th century), the term yamato-e has been used to disting ...

, suggesting the prestige painting held over printing.

References

Works cited

* * * Further Reading Noboru Koyama, Ian Ruxton (trans.), ''Ernest Satow's Japanese Book Collection at Cambridge University Library: Sharaku and the Origins of the Zōho Ukiyoe Ruikō Manuscript'' (Amazon KDP, 2022) {{Portal bar, Japan, Visual arts Edo-period works Ukiyo-e