Glossary of Ukiyo-e Print Terms

Ukiyo-e, pictures of the floating world, are the woodblock prints of Edo and Meiji Japan. Describing them precisely requires a vocabulary of formats, techniques and seals. This glossary explains the terms used by collectors and catalogues.

Genres

  • Bijin-ga. Pictures of beautiful women.
  • Yakusha-e. Actor prints from the kabuki theatre.
  • Musha-e. Warrior prints.
  • Fūkei-ga. Landscape prints.
  • Kachō-ga. Bird and flower prints.
  • Surimono. Privately commissioned prints, often with poems and lavish printing.
  • Shin-hanga and sōsaku-hanga. The new prints of the twentieth century, and the creative prints that artists carved and printed themselves.

Sizes and formats

  • Ōban. The standard large vertical format, about 39 by 26 centimetres.
  • Chūban. A medium format, about half of an ōban.
  • Hosoban. A narrow vertical format used for early actor prints.
  • Hashira-e. A tall, very narrow pillar print.
  • Triptych. Three sheets forming one composition, sanmai-tsuzuki.

Printing techniques

  • Nishiki-e. Full colour printing from many blocks, developed in the 1760s.
  • Bokashi. Graded colour, wiped onto the block by hand.
  • Karazuri. Blind printing, embossing the paper without ink.
  • Kirazuri. Mica printing for a glittering ground.
  • Aizuri-e. Prints in shades of blue, made popular by Prussian blue in the 1830s.
  • Key block. The block carrying the outlines, printed in black.

Seals and signatures

  • Ga and hitsu. Drawn by and brush of, following the artist's name.
  • Kiwame. A censor's seal meaning approved.
  • Date seals. Seals giving the year and month, used from the 1840s onwards.
  • Publisher's seal. The mark of the publisher who issued the print.

Impressions and condition

  • Early impression. One printed soon after the blocks were cut, with crisp lines and full colour effects.
  • Later impression. Printed from worn blocks, often with changed colours or missing effects.
  • Toning. Overall darkening of the paper.
  • Fading. Loss of colour from light, especially in early vegetable pigments.
  • Trimmed. Margins cut down, a common alteration.
  • Backed. Mounted on a supporting sheet.
  • Wormholes. Small tunnels in the paper, often professionally filled.

Related references

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