Japan

 Japan Chapter 10 ** Wood Block Prints ** The Japanese Woodblock Print is an art form, which highlights flowing, curved outlines, simplistic forms as well as the detailing of flat areas containing color. This form of art has not only existed for a long time in Asian history, but it has also deeply impacted artists in both Europe and North America throughout the 19th century. Woodblock printing was first used in Japan in the 8th century to print religious texts. Buddhists traveling from China brought these texts, as well as the printing method itself, to Japan. These first prints were made in a single color using only Sumi ink. The world would have to wait nearly 900 years for the first colored prints to appear. Early color prints were made using a single block and black ink. The colors were hand painted by workers in the print shops. It was only when the popularity of these prints exceeded the production capacity of the workshops that the true woodblock print evolved. To meet the rising demand, the printers employed master carvers to make individual blocks for each of the colors in the print. Many of the finer woodblock prints contained 15 or more colors, requiring 15 different expertly carved wooden print blocks. Each of these blocks had to be carved with great precision to ensure that the colored sections met perfectly. Earliest among these images were private calendars that were printed without first by Suzuku Hornbook (1725-1770), and later with other various artists. One of the most famous of Suzuku Hornbook’s print was the image "The Køya Jewel River”. Beginning in the mid-1760s, the newly discovered color prints were sold commercially; their depictions included themes that were both classical as well as contemporary; these themes included literary scenes, the lives of celebrities, women of beauty, travel scenes, erotic scenes, as well as actors in their different dramatic roles. During the 19th century, some of the most exhibited and represented artists of Japanese Woodblock Prints are Utagawa Toyokuni I (1769-1825), Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865), Utamaro Kitagawa (1750-1806), and Andø Hiroshige (1797-1858). The techniques that were used were varied, but were absolutely critical to the final print. While working, the artist is required to keep a very specific goal in mind while creating the blocks. This mindset should be in line with the Japanese tradition of demonstrating the precise direction of the brush that would be painting the picture, so that the features of the original piece, as well as the written characters, are not in any way destroyed. So from the artist’s point of view, the direction of the knife should match identically the direction of the brush, which initially inscribed the picture. This being said, it is easy to understand that it takes an extremely skilled hand to replicate the unique and exact features captured in the originals, while simultaneously demonstrating the artist’s own skill and character.

The wood that is used for Japanese Woodblock Prints is selected very carefully. The woods considered include only very specific types of trees, and only certain textures of wood within those different species. No matter what, the texture of the wood must be extremely fine and very hard. The differences between old and modern methods of Japanese woodcutting are as follows: the method of cutting on wood - as the ancient woodcuts is deeper than the ones that are made today. However, though more shallow, the present day pieces allow for much greater detail. Origami (pronounced or-i-GA-me) is the Japanese art of paperfolding. "Ori" is the Japanese word for folding and "kami" is the Japanese word for paper. That is how origami got its name. However, origami did not start in Japan. It began in China in the first or second century and then spread to Japan sometime during the sixth century.
 * Origami **

At first, there was very little paper available so only the rich could afford to do paperfolding. The Japanese found useful purposes for their origami. For example, the Samurai (sa-MURE-ay) would exchange gifts with a form known as a noshi (NO-shee). This was a paper folded with a strip of dried fish or meat. It was considered a good luck token. Also, the Shinto Noblemen would celebrate weddings by wrapping glasses of sake or rice wine in butterfly forms that had been folded to represent the bride and groom.

As easier papermaking methods were developed, paper became less expensive. Origami became a popular art for everyone, no matter if they were rich or poor. However, the Japanese people have always been very careful not to waste anything. They have always saved even the tiniest scraps of paper and used them for folding origami models.

For centuries there were no written directions for folding origami models. The directions were taught to each generation and then handed down to the next. This form of art became part of the cultural heritage of the Japanese people. In 1797, //How to Fold 1000 Cranes// was published. This book contained the first written set of origami instructions which told how to fold a  crane. The crane was considered a sacred bird in Japan. It was a Japanese custom that if a person folded 1000 cranes, they would be granted one wish. Origami became a very popular form of art as shown by the well-known Japanese woodblock print that was made in 1819 entitled "A Magician Turns Sheets of Birds". This print shows birds being created from pieces of paper. 

In 1845 another book, //Window on Midwinter//, was published which included a collection of approximately 150 origami models. This book introduced the model of the frog which is a very well known model even today. With the publication of both these books, the folding of origami became recreation in Japan. 

Not only were the Japanese folding paper, but the Moors, who were from Africa, brought paperfolding with them to Spain when they invaded that country in the eighth century. The Moors used paperfolding to create geometric figures because their religion prohibited them from creating animal forms. From Spain it spread to South America. As trade routes were developed, the art of origami was introduced to Europe and later the United States.

Questions:
 * 1) When did Japanese woodblock prints impact the West?
 * 2) How were they (wood block prints) first used?
 * 3) What type of ink did they use?
 * 4) What were the limitations of this first type of block printing?
 * 5) How many blocks could be used to create a single print?
 * 6) What did these later prints depict?
 * 7) Why was the direction of the knife important in carving a wood block?
 * 8) What characteristics in the wood were artists looking for?
 * 9) What are the differences in ancient and modern Japanese woodcutting?
 * 10) What is Origami?
 * 11) Where did it begin?
 * 12) When was the first origami instruction book published? What was it called?
 * 13) What is the legend associated with the paper crane?