ukiyo-e prints

Varieties of Subject Matter in Ukiyo-e Prints

The Japanese woodblock print has been one of the more fascinating aspects
of Japanese aesthetic expression to western culture. Ukiyo originally was the Buddhist term "for the fleeting secular world in contrast with the spiritual reality of Buddhism" (Munsterberg 16) though in the Edo period the term was appropriated to designate in particular the red-light pleasure district of Edo, the Yoshiwara. This "floating world of pleasure and amusement, often of an erotic type" was the setting for a large number of ukiyo-e prints. (Munsterberg 16). Ukiyo-e prints in particular emphasized three primary subjects; the depiction of women and actors, genre scenes of daily Japanese life, and the depiction of nature. This range of subjects is represented by the "six great masters" of the ukiyo-e tradition, and formed the aesthetic foundation of Japanese printmaking for the next two hundred years.
The depiction of the women and actor...