r/ukiyoe

Algorithm is getting good at showing me the right groups. I collect military history and ended up with a few woodblock prints.

Japan taxes its citizens at an ungodly level to fund the Russo-Japanese war. They would pass out posters glorifying the conflict as pro- propaganda.

I have a few others I got at auction years ago. Need to take some pictures.

I found this framed print earlier today (east TN) and I'm curious about it. The art is raised in sections which I assume is related to how it's printed from the medium. Many versions of this print have signatures and marks along the outer edge and a different color scheme in the top right hand corner box . Also when held up to the light it looks like there are distinguishing fade lines hidden on the paper (not sure if that means anything).

I'd appreciate anybody's thoughts or input.

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I found an antique Hokusai print for sale at my local antique store, and the shopkeeper and I were unsure if it was an original Hokusai or a reprint. It seems to check all of the boxes for “original” that I read about online (a bleed-out of the image on the reverse that matches what would be expected of a woodblock print, minimal margin, washi paper, no pixelation when viewed with a magnifying glass) but it lacks the cartouche with the title. According to the shopkeeper, the only other cartouche-less edition of that piece that he could find while researching it was one sold at Sotheby’s, and that was a first state print.

The piece is in what the shopkeeper presumes to be the original Western frame, and there’s a newspaper dating from the 1880s in the frame serving as extra “protection”, so we think it’s at least that old. There is a small red circular stamp on the bottom left of the backside of the print. The shopkeeper obtained it from a late gentleman who had a large collection of East Asian, Indian, and Persian art, so the shopkeeper feels like it’s an authentic piece at least (ie it’s not a modern forgery).

When the shopkeeper put his photos of it into AI, it said that it was possibly a reprint from the Meiji era, but I haven’t seen any known reprints of first state (cartouche-less) editions on the ukiyo-e compendia websites. I’m inclined to think it’s a reprint but the lack of the cartouche is throwing me off.

I only have the two attached pictures of it, but the shopkeeper has more (especially of the backside). I did the best I could to minimize the glare. The piece is quite faded regardless of its authenticity.

1st image: Kuniyoshi 1826-1827 - Higuchi no Jiro Kanemitsu Subjugating a Giant Monkey in the Kiso Mountains

2nd image: Yoshitsuya 1858 - Monster Ape In the Kiso Mountains

3rd image: Yoshikazu 1853 - Shinten-o Vanquishes a White Monkey on Kiso Mountain

I was mostly intrigued by the first ukiyo-e after buying a book on masterpieces centred around heroes. I've found a few pieces centred around heroes from The Tale of the Heike hunting a giant monkey in the Kiso mountains, but I haven't been able to find the story behind them.

From what I've found, Kuniyoshi created the first depiction of the hunt, and other artists followed from there. However, I haven't seen a story anything like what it depicts, but all of the art is created after the story of Iwami Jutaro took off so I wonder if it's just a mash up of that and The Tale of the Heike.

Does anyone know anything more about these pieces, or anything about the story behind them?

have this! I don’t like it anymore lol.

I've always loved the aesthetic of Ukiyo-e. I've wanted to make my own print for ages but don't trust my carving skills. The process of decomposing an image into composite layers and then creating the print step by step is fascinating to me, though.

I also think the Eki Stamp / Book phenom in Japan is deserving of worldwide imitation. I wish we had more of that here in Canada (where I'm from).

So I built this app (https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/hanko/id6765799657) that lets you take a photo of your choosing, break it down into the component (stylized) layers and then lets you create the stamp of your choice from the layers (colours, ordering, etc).

But my question to all of you is - what to call this? it's not strictly 'Hanko', I know (which is more a "signature" stamp) but nor is it really Ukiyo-e. Is there another name for this 'Custom Made Stamp' you could suggest?

Really appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thanks in advance.

Just got a beautiful Utugawa Yoshitaki print professionally framed (yay)! I’ve found the other two parts of this triptych before, but didn’t screenshot. I really want to find the rest of the scene again. Is anyone able to help? I tried digging through a couple digital catalogs of his work already.

Hi r/UkiyoE,

I'm a solo iOS developer from Toronto. I've been a longtime lurker here and ukiyo-e in particular got me obsessed with Japanese art history about three years ago.

Last year I started building a daily Japanese art app called Hanami. It pairs you with one Japanese masterwork every morning — Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro, Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi, Hōitsu, Jakuchū, and others. Each work comes with a curator-voiced audio narration and a short written note covering Japanese vocabulary, historical context, and cultural significance.

It's iOS only and just launched at the end of April. I'd love feedback from people here who actually know this period of art:

- Are there artists you wish were better represented in apps like this?
- Are there specific works you'd want as part of curated journeys?
- Anything that bugs you about how Japanese art usually gets surfaced in apps?

App is free to try (today's piece + 7 days of history without paying). App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6762569296

Disclosure: I built it. I'm not asking for upvotes or downloads — I'm asking for the kind of feedback I can only get from people who already know this stuff cold.

Happy to answer questions or talk about the curation challenges. There are a lot — especially around accurate dating, romanization choices, and how much context to include without overwhelming.

Wanted to share this one. Original design 1927, this is the 1978 復刻版 limited to 300.

50 × 65 cm, so genuinely massive. The bokashi work on Hotaka is what needs attention — that transition from deep indigo at the peaks through misty purple down into the hazy blue middle distance is just absurdly well executed. Colors are still bright, registration is clean across all the blocks, paper is supple but looks a bit yellowish. I suspect that they used a specific type of washi.

Obviously not a jizuri lifetime impression (those are $35k+ when they surface :D), but this one got me when I saw it for the first time.

Stumbled upon this original woodblock print by Un’ichi Hiratsuka during a recent trip to a Japanese second-hand market. Even though it's unnumbered and the seal is missing, the artist's pencil signature on the back.

Here is another one of Hashimoto: Stone garden at early summer, 1961

This community was very helpful in identifying my last post. Can anyone tell me what this is? I found it in a off-the-wall antique store. I’m just trying to get some kind of idea of all the information on this. Thank you so much in advance!

I have six prints in total. Thank you in advance.