Ukiyo-e, also known as "pictures of the floating world," is the ancient art of wood block printing. A wood block print is made by carving an image into a piece of wood and then transferring the image onto paper. Each color used needs its own wood block. In the past, it was not uncommon for an artist to use more than ten blocks per print. The wood block medium was borrowed from the Chinese culture in the eighth century. Centuries later this medium was adopted by Hishikawa Moronobu. Moronobu's work popularized simple woodcuts and laid down a foundation that influenced later artists in creating more advanced prints. These prints began as illustrations for storybooks but soon found their way into daily life as advertisements for teahouses, geisha, and certain Kabuki actors during the Edo period.

The Edo period was marked by the beginning of a national isolation policy. Trading with other countries was virtually banned, except for licensed trading ships. Christianity was also prohibited. The people of Japan were shut off from other foreign cultures and their art work began to reflect the pleasures of everyday Japanese life. While most prints were of urban settings, many artists produced large bodies of work centered on nature and landscape scenes. Katsushika Hokusai is one such artist. His series, "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji," has become extremely popular among westerners.

Many artists of the nineteenth century found influences in ukiyo-e. Artists like Edouard Manet, Henri De Toulouse Lautrec, and Mary Cassatt based many of their own prints on those of the ukiyo-e masters.

Common themes of ukiyo-e

Common themes include: