Nishiki-e, Japanese full-colour woodblock printing
Nishiki-e, grabado japonés en pleno color
- Date
- 1765 · confidence high
- Place
- Edo (Tokyo), Tokyo, Japan
- Credited to
- Suzuki Harunobu and his block cutters
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A full-colour woodblock print with exact registration of many blocks, born from the illustrated calendars of 1765. It made polychrome ukiyo-e possible.
Before 1765 prints were made with two or three colours; the change was technical (more blocks and registration) and commercial.
What it led to
- prints by Utamaro, Hokusai and Hiroshige
- the spread of Japonisme in Europe
- cheap illustrated books