Japanese prints are, till this present day, manufactured from engraved wooden blocks.

The technique employed to produce Japanese prints can also be called "wood engraving" or "woodcut printing".

The original four-step method:

The creation of Japanese woodblock prints requires the joining of four different tradesmen / artists:

#1. That of the designer: during the period of traditional engraving, the designer would draw a dark outline on white paper in an attempt to give an illustration of the final image to the color printer.

From the twentieth century, the designer usually paints a watercolor picture. Then he delivers this to the engraver and printer. It will always be the identify of the designer that history of art remembers (eg. Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige and the like, they were all designers of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints).

#2. That of the carver: he carves, sculpts rather, blocks of timber, each and every block for a different color to be used in the final printing process.

#3. That of the printer: he paints the colours on the blocks and then pushes each block successively on to the special Japanese paper. He creates the different color gradients, which were notably virtuosic in the "Shin-hanga" posters. These gradients are called "Bokashi" in Japanese.

#4. The publisher: this is the "boss". He uncovers the talents required to create these pieces of art; the designers, engravers, and printers. He then places them under contract and coordinates them in an effort to produce the engraved work. The publisher's identify is known to us only when the works are pieces of famous cartoonists (eg. Tsutaya, publisher of Utamaro).

At the moment, the process of producing a handcrafted print remains as detailed above. Yet the 20th century saw the creation of a brand new technique, in which the artist / designer produces his own prints. This method is now known as the "Sosaku-Hanga" (Creative Engraving).

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