Chapter 2: The origins of Ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e: 'image of the floating (or buoyant) world', often misused as an equivalent for 'print', it represent in fact only a part of the production
Ukiyo is a term of Buddhistic origin and covers the state of suffering and sadness which one endures on Earth during Life. It later appears in a novel by Ryooi Asai "Ukiyo-monogatari", the story of a young man and his dissolute life. For Asai, the sense of the word "Ukiyo" has changed;however, it is not him who gives it its new meaning in relation to the urban life of Edo, but it is his book that will help spreading it. What is new though, is the will to live the "here and now", which is in contradiction with the philosophy of state, that of Confucius.
As a result, censure arose, which only encouraged parodies and satyres. Actors and courtesans, considered as potentially 'dangerous' regarding public morality, are regrouped in some districts to be better watched. At Edo, courtesans lived in Yoshiwara, which was isolated from the rest of the city from a wall, and that could be accessed through one gate only. Unlike the rest of the city, Yoshiwara followed the same plan than Nara or Kyoto, that had been inspired by the Chinese city of Chang-an. This place will become that of the 'Ukiyo' way of life.
As Yoshiwara was far away from the center of the city, it was costly both in terms of time and money. There could be found a lot of teahouses, where converged many artists and intellectuals. There were few theaters (3-4) but they were always full as Edo's citizens loved theater. It is these places that will first be represented on print, after having been painted first.
During the late 16th-early 17th centuries, representations of everyday life become more of a focus for artists, after a long period when art was mostly descriptive (machi-e), and they become more and more detailed. Women become the focus point as her environment falls in the background, before disappearing altogether during the Kanbun period (circa 1670). Women are alone represented, standing. Great attention is given to the details of the clothes, while faces are stereotyped. They will become the base of the Ukiyo-e and the prints that will be produced paralel with painting during one century.
It is the artist Iwasa Matabe (1578-1650) who is said to be at the origins of the Ukiyo-e. Born in a samourai family, he studied in an art school before entering the service of a lord, and, from then, that of the Imperial Court. It is him who created the style called "wakai", using pale colors that made his compositions look almost monochromic. But the themes represented were those of the classical Chinese and Japanese tales, and thus, wildly different from those of the "Floating World". Moreover, it is after his death that the novels on which are based the popular understanting of the word 'Ukiyo' will be written.
Hishikawa Moronobu was the most prolific book illustrator of his generation (between 100 and 150 books). Mot much is known about his life. Son of an embroiderer, he learned with masters of both the Tosa and Kanoo schools at Edo. He quickly started to illustrate books, and both those and his paintings were strongly related to the Floating World, as they depicted scenes nearby or in theaters and in Yoshiwara more generally. He was also the first to depict the world of artisans. His style is a blend of several others, that found on paravents, but also that used for the standalone women, the 'bijin'; in his case, he'll give more importance to the position and to the moves and folds of the clothes. The faces are still stereotyped. However, the unusual interactive arrengements of figures give to his compositions something dramatic that hadn't been seen previously
Some of his illustrations found in book were so successful that he started to print them on single sheets to sell them (ichi-mai e) => this is the beginning of the art prints in Japan. We don't know if Moronobu was really the first, but it was him who made of the 'single' print a success. The technics were the same than those used for books illustrations, namely the preparation of a block before printing. There was no color printing at the time; although it was technically possible, it was reserved to a few scientific books, as it was still very expensive. Therefore each sheet was hand-painted and as a result, there were never two prints strictly indentical, and the range of colors could differ enormously, even though orange was often the dominant one ( -> tan-e).
At about the same time are sold the prints of another artist, Sugimura Jihei. His works are usually depicting scenes of popular legends, a theme pretty rare at the time. His prints were characterized by a great general quality and the faces were somewhat more expressive. His illustrations had sometimes been first attibuted to Moronobu.
Next chapter: The Years 1700-1730 and the Ando and Torii schools
Other sources:
The Japan Ukiyo-e Museum Guide
Viewing Japanese Prints
