# 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. - Period: 1670–1900 - Where: East Asia - Origin: Edo (Tokyo), with Kyoto and Osaka, Japan - Branch: Traditions & vernacular - Also known as: Pictures of the floating world, Nishiki-e, Edo woodblock prints - Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/ukiyo-e/ ## How it works - Bound every colour area with a confident carved keyline and fill it with flat, unmodulated ink. - Crop figures and objects boldly at the frame edge and push a large foreground element against a distant view. - Compose on diagonals and from high or oblique viewpoints rather than along a central axis. - Place title, series name and signature in small cartouches inside the picture instead of a separate text block. - Reserve bokashi gradation for sky, water and horizon, and keep everything else flat. - Plan colour as a handful of separate blocks registered with kentō marks, not as continuous painting. ## Its design choices Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then. ### Layout & composition - [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (defining) - [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (defining) - [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (occasional) - [Full bleed](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-bleed/) (occasional) ### Space & hierarchy - [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (characteristic) - [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic) - [Illusion of depth](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/) (occasional) - [Sequential narrative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/sequential-narrative/) (occasional) - [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (occasional) ### Typography - [Brush & pen calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/brush-and-pen-calligraphy/) (characteristic) - [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (characteristic) ### Colour - [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (defining) - [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (characteristic) - [Gradients](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/gradients/) (characteristic) - [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic) - [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (occasional) - [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (occasional) ### Form & shape - [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining) - [Whiplash line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/whiplash-line/) (occasional) - [Distortion & exaggeration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/distortion-and-exaggeration/) (occasional) - [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (occasional) ### Surface & texture - [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (defining) - [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic) - [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (characteristic) ### Ornament - [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic) - [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (occasional) - [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (occasional) ### Imagery - [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (defining) - [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (occasional) ### Medium & production - [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (defining) ### Tone & intent - [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (characteristic) - [Romantic & sensual](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/romantic-and-sensual/) (characteristic) - [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (occasional) - [Calm & contemplative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/calm-and-contemplative/) (occasional) Avoids: Central symmetry, Modular grid, Straight photography, Typography only, Painterly brushwork Palette: #efe5cf, #1e3b5c, #c64a2d, #d98c8c, #d4a64a, #1d1b18 Typefaces: Brush-written kana and kanji titles (gyōsho and sōsho hands), Kantei-ryū kabuki lettering, Carved cartouche inscriptions and artist signatures Known for: Hishikawa Moronobu (illustrated books and early single-sheet prints, 1670s–90s); Suzuki Harunobu (full-colour nishiki-e, from 1765); Kitagawa Utamaro (bijin-ga portraits of women); Tōshūsai Sharaku (actor prints, 1794–95); Katsushika Hokusai, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (c. 1830–32); Utagawa Hiroshige, Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1833–34); Tsutaya Jūzaburō (publisher) ## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to - Influenced by: [Ma & Wabi-sabi Aesthetics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/wabi-sabi.md) (1500–present) - Influenced by: [Nianhua & Chinese Folk Print](https://stylogeny.com/styles/nianhua.md) (c. 1100–present) - Led to: [Japonisme](https://stylogeny.com/styles/japonisme.md) (1860–1910) - Alike in its design choices: [Đông Hồ & Hàng Trống Folk Prints](https://stylogeny.com/styles/dong-ho-folk-print.md) (1600–present), 59% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Chinese Modern Woodcut Movement](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chinese-modern-woodcut.md) (1931–1949), 58% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Taishō Roman & Lyrical Illustration](https://stylogeny.com/styles/taisho-roman.md) (1910–1940), 56% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Taller de Gráfica Popular](https://stylogeny.com/styles/taller-grafica-popular.md) (1937–1977), 55% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Kinngait (Cape Dorset) Inuit Printmaking](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kinngait-print.md) (1957–present), 54% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Story Manga (Postwar Japanese Comics)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/story-manga.md) (1947–present), 51% alike ## Real works - [Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45434): Katsushika Hokusai, ca. 1830–32, The Metropolitan Museum of Art - [Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge and Atake, from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/55433): Utagawa Hiroshige, 1857, The Metropolitan Museum of Art - [Kabuki Actor Ōtani Oniji III as Yakko Edobei](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/37358): Tōshūsai Sharaku, 1794, The Metropolitan Museum of Art - [Hour of the Rat: Mistress, from the series Women's Daily Customs (Fūzoku bijin tokei)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/51137): Kitagawa Utamaro, 1790, The Metropolitan Museum of Art - [The Watchers and the Watched](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/54569): Suzuki Harunobu, 1764–72, The Metropolitan Museum of Art - [Street Scene in Yoshiwara](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/55584): Hishikawa Moronobu, late 17th century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art ## Sources - Richard Lane, Images from the Floating World: The Japanese Print (1978) - Timothy Clark (ed.), Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave (British Museum, 2017) - Philip B. Meggs & Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design --- From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/ukiyo-e/