How a Ukiyo-e Print Was Made

No ukiyo-e print was the work of one person. A publisher planned it. An artist drew it. A carver cut it into wood. A printer pressed it onto paper, one color at a time.

The drawing

The artist drew the design in ink on thin paper. The carver pasted that drawing face down on a block of cherry wood and cut through it, line by line. The drawing was destroyed. What remained was the key block, which printed the black outlines.

The colors

Each color needed its own block. The printer laid damp paper on the inked block and rubbed the back with a baren, a flat pad of bamboo leaf. Small notches cut into every block, called kento, held the paper in the same place each time, so the colors met the lines.

The four steps

1. Publisher — planned the print and paid for it.
2. Artist — drew the design in ink.
3. Carver — cut the key block and the color blocks.
4. Printer — printed each color by hand with a baren.

See it in the prints

Our galleries show prints by Hiroshige, Hokusai, Sharaku and Utamaro. Each one passed through these four pairs of hands.