Lesson Overview:

This lesson explores the history and evolution of the Japanese woodblock print. Students will study the Ukyio-e from its early beginnings to its height in the late 1800s. Students will also learn the about the techniques and development of this process, view prints from the time period, and create an Ukyio-e of your own.

Length of Lesson:

Eight 45-minute class periods

Notes:

This lesson requires two periods for instruction, and several periods for printing and drying. You may decrease the time required for the lesson by using water-soluble rather than oil-based ink.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• understand the historical information about Japan involving all levels of society that is contained in the woodblock prints.
• recognize that the Japanese have influenced the print-making process by their characteristic style of flat brilliant colors.
• observe gradations in value employed in Japanese printmaking.
• recognize how shapes appear flat as if cut from paper and pasted to a wall.
• discuss that Japanese artists included characters from the Kabuki theatre, countryside, flowers and birds.
• complete a linoleum block print of an actor/singer, landscape, birds or flowers.
• distinguish between positive and negative space.
• demonstrate positive and negative space by carving away the negative spaces in the designs.
• produce a print lining up multi-color prints using the kinto and the hikitsuke. (These are guide marks placed along the sides).

Supplies:

• Pencils
• Ruler
• Transparent paper
• 6B lead pencils
• Linoleum blocks (12" x 12") or blocks of pine
• Carving tools (Linoleum or wood)
• Water-soluble printer's ink
• Brayers
• Baren
• Ink trays
• Newsprint Paper
• Printing paper
• Water
• Paper towels
• Clothesline
• Clip-style clothes pins
• Apron
• Throw away Latex gloves

Instructional Plan:

Background

The first known Ukiyo-e (woodblock) paintings emerged in the cities of Kyoto and Osaka in the early 1600s. Ukiyo-e, which roughly translates to pictures of the floating world of the common man, was considered "low" art by and for the non-elite classes. Early paintings were very simple. Artists added sumi (black ink) and colored chalk by hand. Over time, artists began to use more and more color, making the Ukiyo-e paintings more complicated to produce. As a result the woodblock print process emerged as a collaboration of the artist, block cutter, printer, and publisher.

Ukiyo-e followed the general migration from the smaller cities to Edo (present-day Tokyo) at its height during the 1800s. The shoginate (ruler) at the time demanded that the daimyo (lords) and their samurai (warriors) spend time in Edo (now called Tokyo.) This caused the entertainment industry to grow in Edo, and the city became a political center as well as a cultural center. The merchant class in the city grew with the influx of people, and many became wealthy—though they were still commoners in the eyes of the nobility.

Two- and three-color prints emerged during the latter part of the first half of the 1800s, and full-blown multicolored prints became the norm soon after. The Ukiyo-e print became commercialized during that time, with wide-spread production. Prints depicting characters from Kabuki plays were used as flyers to advertise performances in the cities and countryside. The prints depicted beautiful women, birds, flowers, landscapes, and countryside of Japan. The best site for reviewing a variety of woodblock prints from the 1600s to the 1800s is maintained by the Nagoya Broadcast Network. Images may be enlarged to reveal print details and annotations. If possible, allow students to explore the site on their own; otherwise, use a computer and an LCD projector to show the images to the class as a whole.

Create a Virtual Print

In the middle of the 19^th century an Ukiyo-e artist named Hiroshige Ando (1797–1858) created a series of prints called the Fifty-Three Stations of the Takaido. The Takaido or "Eastern Sea Route" was the main highway from Tokyo (where the military leadership lived) to Kyoto, where the imperial court was located.

Have students read this Biography of Hiroshige Ando to learn about the artist and his work. Then have students visit Cleveland State University's Visual Literacy Exercise based on the series and complete the online excercise.

Next, have students visit the Japan Information Network's Ukiyo-epage, a step-by-step introduction to the process of designing and carving a woodblock print; then have students use the interactive drag and drop to recreate a famous Ukiyo-e.

Create a Woodblock Print

Students may now move on to the actual creation of a block print. Depending on level of skill, students may use an easy-to-carve linoleum block, or actually carve pieces of pine that you can get from your local lumberyard. You can purchase the pine boards and have students mark off the size they need to use. Your Industrial Arts Department can then cut the boards to the sizes marked, or you can cut the boards in preparation for the assignment.

Have students examine and discuss examples of Japanese prints from the Nagoya Broadcast Network site, paying particular attention to methods of representing Kabuki actors, Japanese scenery, birds and flowers. Focus the discussion on the characters and style used.

Based the prints seen at the Nagoya site, have students sketch ideas for a Ukiyo-e prints using pencils and newsprint. Sketches should include a character, landscape, flower, or bird. Students should create five different 2" x 2" thumbnail sketches showing a variety of ways to depict the idea. Have students choose one of these compositions for their final print and enlarge it on 12" x 12" tracing paper.

Have students use sharp pencils and carbon paper to transfer their most successful designs to the blocks. Students should place sheets of carbon paper on the blocks, then place tracing paper on top of the carbon paper, image side down. Explain that the picture must be carved in reverse in order to print correctly. Demonstrate how the image will be reversed when printed. When students have arranged the tracing paper correctly, they should trace the images with very sharp pencils, to tranfer the images to the blocks.

Ask students to identify the areas that they will print with each color.

Instruct students to make all cuts away from themselves. Caution them to always keep the hand holding the block away from the path of the carving tool. (Wooden bench hooks are ideal for use during the cutting operation).

To check the design, have students place pieces of newsprint on the carvings and rub over the surfaces with the sides of the pencils. This will provide rough previews of the final images.

Remind students that when cutting out a color, all other colored areas must be carved away leaving only one color that will be printed at a time. Each of the color blocks must have a kinto and a hikitsuke guide mark so that the colors register in the same place for each print. This insures that the paper is placed on the block in the same place each time.

When all three-color blocks are carved, squeeze a small amount of ink from the tube onto an ink slab. Roll the ink with a brayer until it is spread thoroughly over the ink slab. Use water to obtain the right consistency. (It should be kind of sticky, making a crackle noise when you roll your brayer over the ink.)

Apply the brayer to the carved linoleum block until it is completely and evenly covered.

Prepare six sheets of rice paper for the print series. Number the papers with the number of the print and the total number of prints in the series (1/6, 2/6, etc.) When inking each paper, they will work in this order for each color, completing print 1 of 6, then 2 of 6, etc. (If students complete practice pieces they should label them as artist proof, rather than number them.)

Carefully place a sheet of rice paper by lining up the kinto and the hikitsuke registration guide markers with the side of the paper. Rub firmly from the back with a circular motion. Print six with the first color. Re-ink the linoleum block between each printing.

String clothesline across the room and use clip clothespins to hang the prints. Hanging them in order along with placing the number on them makes for easier tracking. Permit prints to dry overnight.

Ink the second color block and line up the paper with the guide markers. Continue this process for each separate color, permitting a day of drying between each additional color).

Closure

As a class, discuss the students' works and their experience with the printing process:

• What was the characteristic style of the woodblock print?
• How did shapes appear in the woodblock prints?
• How were the colors employed?
• After examining the examples of historic Japanese woodblock prints, and making your own, can you understand why a method of reproduction was necessary to reproduce several posters that advertised the Kabuki plays?

Assessment:

Assess students based on the extent to which they successfully completed the following:

• Did the student demonstrate an understanding of positive and negative space by carving away the correct negative space?
• Did the student complete a woodblock or linoleum block print using a character, landscape, flower, or bird?
• Did the student demonstrate an understanding of the historical aspects of design and color by using flat shapes and brilliant colors?
• Did the student successfully print three or more colors with color lined up properly on their print?
• Did the finished prints show that the student exercised neatness during the printing process?

Extensions:

In the late 1800s and first half of the 1900s, European artists were highly influenced by Japanese woodblock prints. Their paintings and prints show Japanese-inspired color, shapes, and subject matter. Artists whose created works expressing Japanese print characteristics include Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Mary Cassatt, and Claude Monet. Have students research how these artists were influenced by Ukyio-e by choosing a Western artist and at least one work that demonstrates this influence. Students should point to specific attributes of Japanese Ukyio-e in the work chosen.

Sources:

Print:

• Brommer, Gerald F. Relief Printmaking. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, Inc., 1970.
• Erickson, Janet Doub and Adelaide Sproul. Printmaking Without A Press. New York, NY: Reinhold Book Corporation, 1966.

Authors:

• Elna Eichenmuller
  Leonardtown High School
  Leonardtown, Maryland
  

Collaborating Organizations:

• Theater East and West
  College Park, MD
  

  Theater East and West, a comparative drama program, was sponsored by the University of Maryland, College Park with the aid of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Three units at the University of Maryland sponsored Theater East and West: the Center for Renaissance & Baroque Studies, Department of Hebrew and East Asian Languages and Literatures, and the International Center for the Study of Education Policy and Human Values.