Stylogeny combining Taishō Roman × Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

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Style combination · Pairs well

Taishō Roman × Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Yumeji's beauties continue the bijin-ga print; pair a woodblock-printed pattern ground with a lyrical modern figure.

From the research on Taishō Roman & Lyrical Illustration

Mix them and make something Taishō Roman Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

AmourTaishō Roman × Ukiyo-e Woodblock1910 · 1670
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Taishō Roman, their arrangement from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints, the finish from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

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What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

Taishō Roman & Lyrical Illustration Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Type from Taishō Roman
Colour from Taishō Roman
Form from Taishō Roman
Composition from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints
Surface from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

02

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Taishō Roman

Amour

Federant, standing in for Art Nouveau-style Latin display lettering

Text · Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Mass-produced Edo-period woodblock prints of actors, courtesans, legends and landscapes, designed by an artist, cut and printed by specialist craftsmen and sold cheaply by commercial publishers. Flat colour blocks inside a carved keyline, bold cropping, high or oblique viewpoints and diagonal compositions, with titles in small cartouches, later handed Europe a new model for the poster.

Shippori Mincho; Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints used Brush-written kana and kanji titles and Kantei-ryū kabuki lettering

03

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Taishō Roman, with a counter-accent from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Taishō Roman & Lyrical Illustration Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

  • #f1e8d5 ground · 36%
  • #3b4a6b ink · 14%
  • #b8333a accent · 18%
  • #c9a548 accent · 14%
  • #d98b8f accent · 10%
  • #9bb39a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f1e8d5;
  --ink: #3b4a6b;
  --accent-1: #b8333a;
  --accent-2: #c9a548;
  --accent-3: #d98b8f;
  --accent-4: #9bb39a;
  --font-display: "Federant", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Shippori Mincho", serif;
}

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The two styles

1910–1940 · East Asia Taishō Roman & Lyrical Illustration The lyrical illustration (jojōga) of late-Meiji to early-Shōwa Japan, led by Takehisa Yumeji: willowy, large-eyed women in kimono drawn with an Art Nouveau contour, set among camellias and kimono patterns and lettered by hand. Made for sheet-music covers, girls' magazines, postcards and paper goods, it is intimate and melancholic rather than ornamental, and its eyes and moods passed through Nakahara Jun'ichi into shōjo manga. An enormous hawk with raised wings and extended talons swoops over a rough sea with a small sailboat and rocky islands. Pine-covered cliffs and a Japanese-style building frame the right side, with a mountain, red sun and vertical Japanese lettering in the background. 1670–1900 · East Asia Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints Mass-produced Edo-period woodblock prints of actors, courtesans, legends and landscapes, designed by an artist, cut and printed by specialist craftsmen and sold cheaply by commercial publishers. Flat colour blocks inside a carved keyline, bold cropping, high or oblique viewpoints and diagonal compositions, with titles in small cartouches, later handed Europe a new model for the poster.

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More combinations

With Taishō Roman

All 11 combinations with Taishō Roman

With Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

All 15 combinations with Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Every style combination