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Ukiyo-e (浮世絵, Ukiyo-e^?), "pictures of the floating world", is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, the theater and pleasure quarters.

Ukiyo, meaning "floating world", refers to the impetuous young culture that bloomed in the urban centers of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), Osaka, and Kyoto that were a world unto themselves. It is an ironic allusion to the homophone term "Sorrowful World" (憂き世), the earthly plane of death and rebirth from which Buddhists sought release. The art form rose to great popularity in the metropolitan culture of Edo (Tokyo) during the second half of the 17th century, originating with the single-color works of Hishikawa Moronobu in the 1670s. At first, only India ink was used, then some prints were manually colored with a brush, but in the 18th century Suzuki Harunobu developed the technique of polychrome printing to produce nishiki-e.

Ukiyo-e were affordable because they could be mass-produced. They were meant for mainly townsmen, who were generally not wealthy enough to afford an original painting. The original subject of ukiyo-e was city life, in particular activities and scenes from the entertainment district. Beautiful courtesans, bulky sumo wrestlers and popular actors would be portrayed while engaged in appealing activities. Later on landscapes also became popular. Political subjects, and individuals above the lowest strata of society (courtesans, wrestlers and actors) were not sanctioned in these prints and very rarely appeared. Sex was not a sanctioned subject either, but continually appeared in ukiyo-e prints. Artists and publishers were sometimes punished for creating these sexually explicit shunga.

History

Ukiyo-e can be categorized into several different art periods: the Edo period, which comprises ukiyo-e from its origins in until about 1867, when the Meiji period began and lasted until 1912. The Edo period was largely a period of calm which provided an ideal environment for the development of the art in a commercial form; while the Meiji period is characterized by new influences as Japan opened up to the West.

The roots of ukiyo-e can be traced to the urbanization that took place in the late 16th century which led to the development of a class of merchants and artisans who began writing stories or novels, and painting pictures, compiled together in ehon (絵本, picture books, books with stories and picture illustrations), such as the 1608 edition of Tales of Ise (Ise-monogatari) by Hon'ami Kōetsu. Ukiyo-e were often used for illustrations in these books, but came into their own as single-sheet prints (e.g. postcards or kakemono-e), or were posters for the kabuki theater. Inspirations were initially Chinese tales and artworks. Many stories were based on urban life and culture, guidebooks were also popular, and all in all had a commercial nature and were widely available. Hishikawa Moronobu, who already used polychrome painting, became very influential after the 1670s.

Read more at Wikipedia.org