Ayaka Wada / Special to The Japan NewsJapan was seen as an international leader in the field of art in the 18th and 19th centuries—the middle of the Edo period (1603-1867)—when ukiyo-e artists produced numerous masterpieces. This was the thought that came to my mind when I finished appreciating the works on display at “Ukiyo-e: A Journey Through the Floating World.”

Back then, a single ukiyo-e print was reportedly sold for the price of a bowl of soba noodles, or about several hundred yen in today’s money.

It was common for ukiyo-e, which had a significant influence on such artists as van Gogh, Monet and other impressionists, to be circulated among people in the town of Edo.

Considered a simple, ordinary item, ukiyo-e prints came to be used for wrapping porcelain pieces to be exported abroad. In Europe, they were received with great surprise by artists there. Many painters overseas reportedly became enthusiastic collectors of ukiyo-e.

I imagine Japanese people back in those days probably were not aware that ukiyo-e prints could be valuable artworks, unlike today, when they are highly appreciated.

If you compare ukiyo-e to fashion magazines, celebrity portraits and travel magazines in today’s world, it may be easier to imagine what things were like in the Edo period.

Among the diverse ukiyo-e artists, Suzuki Harunobu, Kitagawa Utamaro and Toshusai Sharaku depicted beautiful women and kabuki actors, while Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai illustrated travel scenes and Mt. Fuji. Much like photographers today, they visually captured customs and society, but they used the medium of woodblock prints.

Artists dictated the ever-changing trends in the town of Edo and consumers purchased their works—yet the latter group was also responsible for setting trends. I think this cycle created the moving force behind the art form of ukiyo-e, which is beyond comparison. For such a phenomenon to take place on an isolated island that closed its doors to the rest of the world is impressive.

However, because ukiyo-e was such a familiar item, people of the time probably never imagined that it would have a great impact on the world’s art.

Looking at many masterpieces on exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Tokyo-Edo Museum, I felt renewed pride in the sensitivity of the Japanese people.

Take, for example, the works depicting beautiful women. Every single aspect of the prints is utterly splendid—the colors, patterns and designs of the kimono women are wearing. The more closely you look at the prints, the more fresh emotions you will experience.

The incredible technical ingenuity of Edo artists is behind the extraordinary detail in ukiyo-e prints. Ukiyo-e are woodblock prints supported by such advances.

My personal favorite at the show was Suzuki Harunobu’s “Lovers Sharing an Umbrella in the Snow.” The snow on the umbrella was not illustrated using the color white but using the print’s unevenness, which came as a great surprise to me. The woman’s white kimono was depicted in the same way.

Edo artists’ craftsmanship was so delicate that they paid close attention to such details that viewers probably would not notice, yet they did not try to make them stand out.

The more I understand such sensitivity, the more I am drawn to ukiyo-e. I believe that the craftsmanship itself can be understood as part of Japanese aesthetics.

Varying modes of expression are used in ukiyo-e works. We are able to recognize their diversity thanks to such opportunities as “Ukiyo-e: A Journey Through the Floating World,” where you will be able to see a number of masterpieces in one place. I think the diversity reflects what Japan is about.

Visitors to the exhibition will certainly discover new things about Japan through these woodblock prints. I hope to be able to “encounter” more of Japan through ukiyo-e in the future.