u/MieGalleryPrints

Why was this seemingly innocent Japanese woodblock print considered too suggestive in 1930?

Torii Kotondo’s Morning Hair (Asanegami) depicts a young woman just after waking, her hair loose as she rests against a pillow beneath a green mosquito net.

When the original edition was published, Japanese authorities objected to the intimate scene. Only a small number of impressions had been sold before the remaining prints were reportedly confiscated and destroyed.

The problem wasn’t nudity, but what the image implied – her disheveled hair, the pillow, and the intimate morning setting suggested that she had spent the night with someone.

Today, Morning Hair is one of Kotondo’s best-known and most sought-after designs.

#ToriiKotondo #MorningHair #ShinHanga #JapaneseWoodblockPrints #Bijinga #JapaneseArt #Ukiyoe

Would you sacrifice your own life to save a child you had raised?

This dramatic 1876 woodblock print by Toyohara Kunichika depicts Shizu-e, a devoted wet nurse who prayed for the safety of her young master during the Shimabara-Amakusa Rebellion.

According to the story, Shizu-e stood beneath the powerful waterfall at Takio Myōjin and offered her own life in exchange for his. Kunichika captures her alone beneath the torrent, hands clasped in prayer as the water crashes around her.

Shizu-e represents the “good” side of Kunichika’s fascinating series Thirty-Six Good and Evil Beauties.

She’s one of 36 remarkable women from Japanese history and legend whose stories I’m exploring in my upcoming book on the complete series. Reserve your copy at https://miegallery.com/pages/reserve-a-book

#Kunichika #JapaneseWoodblockPrints #Ukiyoe #JapaneseArt #EdoPeriod #MeijiPeriod #ThirtySixBeauties #MieGallery

This intense 1926 woodblock print by Natori Shunsen depicts the kabuki actor Jitsukawa Enjaku II as Danshichi Kurobei, the hero of the famous play Summer Festival: Mirror of Osaka.

Danshichi is a fishmonger and tough street hero whose confrontation with his vicious father-in-law eventually ends in murder.

Rather than showing the action, Shunsen brings us incredibly close to the actor’s face in an ōkubi-e, or large-head portrait. The expression, makeup, fine carving, and rich printing give the character an extraordinary sense of presence.

Shunsen became one of the great twentieth-century artists of kabuki actor prints, combining the traditions of Edo-period yakusha-e with the refined craftsmanship of Shin-hanga.

#NatoriShunsen #Kabuki #ShinHanga #JapaneseWoodblockPrints #Ukiyoe #JapaneseArt

Dining out was already a big part of life in Edo Japan nearly 200 years ago.

This Hiroshige woodblock print from around 1838–1840 shows guests leaving Tagawaya, a popular restaurant near the Yoshiwara pleasure district. One gentleman appears to have enjoyed the evening a little too much!

By the 1830s, Edo had a thriving restaurant culture, complete with printed guides ranking popular establishments. Prints like this give us a fascinating glimpse into everyday nightlife in old Tokyo.

#Hiroshige #JapaneseWoodblockPrints #Ukiyoe #EdoJapan #JapaneseArt #EdoPeriod #JapanHistory

This dramatic 1872 woodblock print by Utagawa Yoshimori, American Ship off Arai, depicts an American warship off Arai in Tōtōmi Province.

The image recalls the famous arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry’s “Black Ships.” Perry first arrived with American warships in 1853 and returned with a larger fleet in 1854. 

Yoshimori was a student of the great Utagawa Kuniyoshi and produced warrior prints, and images of foreigners in Japan.

More than simply an image of a foreign ship, this print captures one of the great themes of 19th-century Japanese art – the encounter between Japan and a rapidly changing outside world.

#UtagawaYoshimori #BlackShips #JapaneseWoodblockPrints #Ukiyoe #JapaneseArt #MeijiPeriod #MatthewPerry #JapanHistory

Here's something you don't expect to see in a Japanese woodblock print – a woman trimming her toenails.

Utagawa Kunisada created A Good Day to Trim One’s Nails in 1844 as part of his series A Floral Calendar: Women on Lucky Days. The series refers to the traditional calendar and the idea that certain days were favorable  –  or unfavorable –  for different everyday activities.

Kunisada shows a young woman dressed casually in a beautiful blue robe decorated with white herons and black ravens. With one foot raised, she prepares to trim her nails with a pair of scissors.

Other Japanese artists depicted this ordinary activity, but this is one of my favorites. Kunisada takes a mundane moment of personal grooming and turns it into a beautifully designed portrait of everyday life in Edo Japan.

#Kunisada #JapaneseWoodblockPrints #Ukiyoe #JapaneseArt #EdoPeriod #Bijinga #WoodblockPrint

Hiroshige’s Akasaka: Inn with Serving Maids gives us a wonderful glimpse inside a Japanese inn along the famous Tōkaidō road between Edo and Kyoto.

Published around 1833–34 as part of Hiroshige’s celebrated Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, the print shows travelers relaxing and being served food while two women prepare themselves for the evening. At the center of the courtyard stands a sago palm and stone lantern.

Remarkably, the historic inn associated with Hiroshige’s scene survived into modern times and was preserved as a cultural property – giving us a fascinating connection between Hiroshige’s print and the real places encountered by travelers nearly 200 years ago.

A quiet evening in 1930s Tokyo. Tsuchiya Koitsu’s Teahouse in Yotsuya, created in 1935, captures two women leaving a traditional teahouse as warm orange light spills onto the darkened street.

Koitsu was a master of light, shadow, and bokashi gradation - skills influenced by his early teacher Kobayashi Kiyochika. The result is an atmospheric glimpse of everyday life in prewar Tokyo and a beautiful example of the Shin-hanga movement.

#JapaneseArt #ShinHanga #TsuchiyaKoitsu #WoodblockPrint #JapanesePrints #Tokyo #ArtHistory

This dramatic 1868 woodblock print by Toyohara Kunichika depicts the kabuki actor Kawarazaki Gonjūrō I as Soga Gorō Tokimune, one of the heroes of Japan’s famous Soga revenge story.

Kunichika places Gorō right in the middle of the action: his sword is bloodied, he deflects a naginata with his other hand, a mansion burns behind him, and bullets streak through the rain.

The real Soga brothers became famous for avenging their father’s death, and their story was retold for centuries in Japanese literature, theater, and art.

This print comes from Kunichika’s series Butterflies and Plovers Kill Ten (Chō Chidori Jūban Kiri).

#Kunichika #JapaneseWoodblockPrints #Ukiyoe #Kabuki #Samurai #JapaneseArt #SogaBrothers

At first glance, Hiroshige’s "Chrysanthemum and Wren" looks like a beautiful "kacho-e", or bird-and-flower print. But the poem included in the design reveals a little love story.

The tiny wren represents a hopeless admirer pursuing a high-ranking courtesan, who is compared to the enormous mythical Taihō bird. It adds an entirely different meaning to the image - and is a wonderful example of the way Hiroshige combined nature, poetry, symbolism, and humor in his work.

The original design was published in the 1830s.

#Hiroshige #JapaneseWoodblockPrints #Ukiyoe #JapaneseArt #Kachoe #WoodblockPrint #EdoPeriod

Two separate Japanese woodblock prints come together to create this dramatic diptych from Kunisada’s Flowers of Edo (Edo no Hana) series.

The prints depict kabuki actors Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Yokoyama no Yosaburō and Nakamura Tsuruzō I as “Yasu the Bat.” Between them, evening fireworks explode above the famous Ryōgoku Bridge in Edo.

Kunisada designed the dramatic actor portraits, while Hiroshige II created the landscape — a wonderful example of the collaborative nature of ukiyo-e.

The Flowers of Edo series combined famous kabuki actors, districts of Edo, firefighting brigades, and local landmarks into one of the more unusual print series of the late Edo period.

#JapaneseWoodblockPrints #Kunisada #Hiroshige #Ukiyoe #Kabuki #JapaneseArt #EdoPeriod

Torii Kotondo’s Combing Her Hair (Kami tsuki) was originally published in 1933 in an edition of just 100 impressions, after which the original woodblocks were destroyed.

The print depicts a young woman quietly combing her long black hair, dressed in a gray kimono decorated with delicate pink flowers. The fine carving of the individual strands of hair and the deep blue bokashi background are wonderful examples of the craftsmanship found in Shin-hanga prints.

The example shown here comes from a later limited set produced from newly carved woodblocks in the 1980s.

This elegant print by the artist Utagawa Kunisada depicts the kabuki actor Nakamura Shikan IV in the role of Heitarō Yoshikado. It comes from an 1859 series called Mirrors for Collage Pictures in the Modern Style.

Kunisada created several series featuring actors reflected in mirrors, and I think they're among his most inventive designs. Here, the actor's portrait appears inside a beautifully lacquered black, oval mirror, the edges of the mirror are wrapped in patterned fabric. In the background we see delicate confetti-like decoration and a poem written by the actor himself.

The craftsmanship is wonderful. Look closely and you'll notice the incredibly fine lines in the hair and the embossing on the white collar.

This print by Japanese artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi comes from one of his most famous series, Stories of the True Loyalty of the Faithful Samurai, depicting the legendary Forty-seven Ronin.

The story of the Forty-seven Ronin is one of Japan's best-known tales of loyalty. After their lord was forced to commit suicide, the 47 masterless samurai patiently waited and plotted their revenge. Once they had avenged him, they surrendered themselves to the authorities and were ordered to commit seppuku. 

This lively print by the artist Shōsai Ikkei comes from his 1871 series Forty-eight Famous Views of Tokyo, which documents the city during the early years of the Meiji period.

The scene shows crowds gathering shellfish at Susaki, a popular seaside destination where people would wade out onto the tidal flats at low tide to collect clams and other seafood. It was a favorite seasonal pastime for the people of Edo.

A rainy night, a glowing noodle stand, and one of my favorite modern Japanese woodblock prints.

Tomikichiro Tokuriki's Noodle Shop on a Rainy Night (1951) beautifully captures the quiet atmosphere of a traditional yatai street food stall. Even more fascinating, the print exists in two versions—one with customers wearing traditional kimono for the Japanese market, and another with Western clothing for export.

#JapaneseArt #WoodblockPrint #Ukiyoe #ShinHanga #SosakuHanga #TomikichiroTokuriki #JapaneseCulture #Japan #Yatai #StreetFood

This is a reprint of one of the most famous Japanese prints ever designed by the mysterious artist Toshusai Sharaku. The original, created in 1794, sold at a Christie's auction for $277,000.

The print shows the kabuki actor Ichikawa Komazō III playing the villain Shiga Daishichi in the play A Medley of Tales of Revenge. The story follows two sisters seeking revenge for the murder of their father. Here, Sharaku captures the tense moment just before Daishichi draws his sword to commit that murder.