Courtesy Adachi Institute
arts & culture
Top and right page inset:Adachi Institute master carver at work. Inset: Hiroshige Moon-viewing Point.
floating art Gallery
Woodblock prints of simple everyday working life are now sought-after
By Margaret Pointer
Courtesy
self-imposed isolation.
Ebisu-do
examples of some of Japan’s finest craftsmanship from an era of
Ukiyo-e, literally “paintings of the floating world,” have long fascinated Westerners—for they are so quintessentially Japanese. In the past, while the Japanese enjoyed but often disposed of woodblock prints, Westerners were becoming avid collectors. Today, ukiyo-e is recognized as an important national art form; and in Tokyo it is possible to learn about the ukiyo-e era, to view collections of the finest prints, to see how they are produced—and purchase an authentic print for your home or office. You head first to the magnificent Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku (sumo area of the city) to learn about the Edo Era (1603-1868), when the Emperor was powerless in Kyoto and the country governed by the Tokugawa Shogunate. The feudal overlord Ieyasu Tokugawa moved 18 / Kaleidoscope
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 09
the capital to Edo village (present-day Tokyo), in time growing into a sophisticated city, reaching a population of over one million back then. A strong government and a policy of no contact with the outside world through self-imposed isolation eventually shaped a period of great peace in Japan. There was time to devote to education, music, literature, the arts and entertainment. Literacy levels were high. This was the period of kabuki, sumo, handicrafts, lacquerware and ukiyo-e. At the museum, visitors cross over the Nihonbashi bridge and enter Edo. Ukiyo-e help illustrate aspects of life back then; there is a section in the museum devoted to prints, including a fascinating array of woodblocks that graphically illustrate how an ukiyo-e was created. Producing an ukiyo-e entailed a group effort. The artist drew the picture using clear black lines. The carver next produced a series of