Ukiyo-e

Ukiyo-e, literally meaning 'pictures of the floating world', is the practice of woodblock printing which became popular in Japan around late Edo period. Traditionally, woodblock printing used to be a collaborative process between an artist, carver, printer and publisher. In many works produced by Hokusai, Hiroshige Ando, Kuniyoshi, and other prominent woodblock artists, the publisher seals can be found alongside censorship seals which indicate the date at which the prints were produced.

After the end of the Meiji period, due to new forms of printing being developed in the west, ukiyo-e fell off and gave way to shin-hanga (literally meaning new style of printing). These works were often done in a much smaller scale as the woodblock printing industry became more of an art form. Some prominent artists of the time such as Toshi and Hiroshi Yoshida also printed in much larger formats than the traditional woodblock printing sizes.