Woodblock printing, though more time-consuming and expensive than later methods, was far less so than the traditional method of writing out each copy of a book by hand thus, Japan began to see something of literary mass production. These books, now known as Kōetsu Books, Suminokura Books, or Saga Books, are considered the first and finest printed reproductions of many of these classic tales the Saga Book of the Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari), printed in 1608, is especially renowned. At their studio in Saga, the pair created a number of woodblock versions of the Japanese classics, both text and images, essentially converting handscrolls to printed books, and reproducing them for wider consumption. The great pioneers in applying this method to the creation of artistic books, and in preceding mass production for general consumption, were Honami Kōetsu and Suminokura Soan. The medium quickly gained popularity, and was used to produce affordable prints as well as books. By 1640 woodblocks were once again used for nearly all purposes. Despite the appeal of moveable type, however, craftsmen soon decided that the running script style of Japanese writings was better reproduced using woodblocks. This document is the oldest work of Japanese moveable type printing extant today. An edition of the Confucian Analects was printed in 1598, using a Korean moveable type printing press, at the order of Emperor Go-Yōzei. Private printers appeared in Kyoto at the beginning of the 17th century, and Toyotomi Hideyori, Ieyasu's primary political opponent, aided in the development and spread of the medium as well. Printing was not dominated by the shogunate at this point, however. As shogun, Ieyasu promoted literacy and learning, contributing to the emergence of an educated urban public. He oversaw the creation of 100,000 type-pieces, which were used to print a number of political and historical texts. Four years later, Tokugawa Ieyasu, even before becoming shogun, effected the creation of the first native moveable type, using wooden type-pieces rather than metal. Though the Jesuits operated a movable type printing press in Nagasaki from 1590, printing equipment brought back by Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army from Korea in 1593 had far greater influence on the development of the medium. This was the Setsuyō-shū, a two-volume Chinese-Japanese dictionary. The first secular book was printed in Japan in 1591. However, an important set of fans of the late Heian period (12th century), containing painted images and Buddhist sutras, reveal from loss of paint that the underdrawing for the paintings was printed from blocks. For centuries, printing was mainly restricted to the Buddhist sphere, as it was too expensive for mass production, and did not have a receptive, literate public as a market. These are the earliest examples of woodblock printing known, or documented, from Japan.īy the eleventh century, Buddhist temples in Japan produced printed books of sutras, mandalas, and other Buddhist texts and images. These were distributed to temples around the country as thanksgiving for the suppression of the Emi Rebellion of 764. In 764 the Empress Kōken commissioned one million small wooden pagodas, each containing a small woodblock scroll printed with a Buddhist text (Hyakumantō Darani). Woodblock-printed books from Chinese Buddhist temples were seen in Japan as early as the eighth century. The Japanese water-based inks provide a wide range of vivid colors, glazes, and transparency. Although similar to woodcut in Western printmaking in some regards, the mokuhanga technique differs in that it uses water-based inks-as opposed to western woodcut, which often uses oil-based inks. Woodblock printing had been used in China for centuries to print books, long before the advent of movable type, but was widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period (1603–1868). Woodblock printing in Japan (木版画, mokuhanga) is a technique best known for its use in the ukiyo-e artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. History Sumizuri-e Benizuri-e Aizuri-e Urushi-e Nishiki-e HISTORY
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