Woodblock Prints depicting famous or important personages, events, folklore, and places of interest were an important part of everyday life in Japan from the late 18th century until replaced by the camera in the late 19th century. These prints are often referred to as “Images of the Floating World”.

Early images are elaborately detailed both in design and execution. From the mid-19th century on, the images are less carefully drawn. Earlier dyes are derived from vegetables, but were replaced by brighter aniline dyes around 1840. Each color is printed from separately carved woodblock. In assessing the quality of woodblocks, the accuracy of the registration (the artist’s ability to carve each color block so that colors do not overlap when printed) and the amount of detail (including even the amount of graining in the woodblock) are important variables. Condition is also important, but since many of these impressions were actually used as handouts to advertise Kabuki performances, or to remember a pilgrimage to an important place; some wear is not uncommon.

When Admiral Perry forged the opening of Japan to the eastern World, these images circulated widely. Sea captains brought them home and merchants found them useful as wrapping paper for goods they were importing. It is said that Vincent Van Gogh acquired his sense of using strong colors from unwrapping imports for a local merchant. His collection of Japanese prints, wrinkles and all, is at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. No longer isolated from the world, the Japanese soon adopted elements of adopted western culture. A genre of woodblock prints known as, “Yokohama Prints,” (the Port of Yokohama was the point of entry.) depict native Japanese in western dress.