(More information coming later, as we learn it ...)

This spectacular set of woodblock prints was issued in the 1930s by the Kyoto publisher Happodo. They specialized in images of traditional Japan: Heian era motifs, old fabric patterns, traditional dolls, and the like.

For us inspecting these prints today, it is difficult to understand how such a project could possibly have been feasible: the number of printings on each sheet is staggeringly high, and given that they were sold as a set of 54, the final cost could only have been kept within reach of a typical consumer by keeping the labour costs depressed as far as possible.

During those years, there were still a number of highly skilled printers available; men who had trained during the late Meiji period when there was a huge amount of work available. But by this time - in early Showa - most of that work had been replaced by printing presses, and they would have been eager to take whatever they were offered ...

These prints are not made in the same way as the ukiyoe. The type of technology used for those famous prints involved the use of (mostly) transparent pigments, pressed deeply into an absorbent paper. When you see white in a typical ukiyo-e print, you are seeing the paper colour.

Kyoto prints like the ones you see here are different; the whites you see are a white powder pigment (usually ground shells) mixed with glue, and the colouring is laid on top of the heavy paper, rather than being driven down into it. The effect is more of a 'painting' than a print, and indeed, a great deal of the Kyoto work is in replication of older paintings.

(We have the entire set, but preparation of the photographs is quite time-consuming. We'll start off with this small selection, just to let you know about this set, and will upload others as time allows ...)