Jeanette Ho A0127683X

NM4229 Research AssignmentThe Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e:Culture, Representation, andConservationWord Count: 2482Name: Jeanette HoMatriculation Number: A0127683X

The Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e: Culture, Representation, and ConservationIntroductionUkiyo-e, or woodblock printing, became popular in Japan during the Edo period (1603-1867).(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003) Back then, ukiyo-e was considered a form of art thatwas for the non-elite due to its affordability and wide availability. (Library of Congress, n.d.)However, ukiyo-e underwent constant change to reflect contemporary tastes and innovation,which resulted in a highly sophisticated work of art.The ukiyo-e process requires the involvement of individuals who are highly skilled. There are2 main steps when creating an ukiyo-e piece; block carving and printing. A block carver wouldstart off with a carefully selected piece of white mountain cherry wood and outline the area tobe printed with a sharp knife. (Chiappa, 2016) The printer would then carefully apply a layerof paint to the wood and place a piece of paper on top of it, in order to transfer the paint fromthe woodblock to the paper. (Chiappa, 2016) This step will then be repeated multiple times,depending on the number of colours used, as a different block has to be used for a differentcolour. As only one colour can be applied each time, precision is very important when placingthe paper on the woodblock to ensure that the piece is accurately coloured.Back when machines were not yet invented to mass produce art, ukiyo-e was the closest thingavailable thus it became popular due to its ability to produce stunningly beautiful artwork at arelatively low cost. Ukiyo-e communicates the Japanese culture and represents women warriors,but may unfortunately become a dying trade due to a lack of conservation. 2

The Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e: Culture, Representation, and ConservationDiscussionThe theory “The medium is the message” conceived by Marshall McLuhan (1964) posits thatthe medium itself contains meaning, and it influences how the message is being perceived.While trying to decipher the message, it is also important to take into account the medium ofthe message and think about why the artist used a particular medium over another. It could bebecause the particular medium has a special meaning to the artist, or it could simply be due toeconomic reasons, where the chosen medium is widely available and therefore more accessibleto the artist. Based on this theory, ukiyo-e can then be discussed with these concepts- culture,representation, and conservation.CultureUkiyo-e communicates the Japanese culture, and The Great Wave off Kanagawa exemplifiesthis. Culture is the characteristics and interests of a group of people. (Eliot, 2010) This set ofcharacteristics could be what sets aside one culture from another. Culture can also be seen aseither intangible or tangible within a community. Ideas or norms that are shared in a communitywill be seen as intangible, whereas rituals, food, or art will be seen as tangible. As such, ukiyo-e is a tangible artefact that communicates the Japanese culture.One example of ukiyo-e that does so would be The Great Wave off Kanagawa (The GreatWave). The Great Wave can be said to not only be the most famous ukiyo-e piece, but also themost iconic Japanese work of art. The Great Wave is part of a larger ukiyo-e collection namedThirty-six views of Mount Fuji. (Khan Academy, 2016) This collection was by KatsushikaHokusai who was interested in oblique angles and contrasts of near and far, and this wasreflected in his prints. (Khan Academy, 2016) 3

The Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e: Culture, Representation, and Conservation The Great Wave off Kanagawa (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.d.)Through the example of The Great Wave, ukiyo-e does communicate the Japanese culture. TheJapanese are known to be very humble and honourific, as can be seen by their ways of address.(Fukada & Asato, 2004) This is then reflected in The Great Wave. The wave is seemingly aboutto strike the boats, which reflects the power and force of nature, juxtaposed against theweakness of humans. (Nirei, 2016) This can be seen as a reminder to the Japanese to stayhumble at all times, as they will not be able to compete with the greatness of nature no matterhow successful they become. In the background, Mt Fuji can be seen. Hokusai has made useof perspective, making Mt Fuji look as if it may be swallowed up by the great wave. DespiteMt Fuji being Japan’s highest mountain, the wave evidently looks a lot bigger than it,representing the unpredictability of life as the individuals in the boats may now perish due tothe unforeseen great wave. (Nirei, 2016)Additionally, Mt Fuji was included in the print as it signifies stillness and eternity. It is also thesymbol of Japan, and it holds a significant place in Japanese beliefs as it is a sacred object of 4

The Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e: Culture, Representation, and Conservationworship. (Nirei, 2016) Mt Fuji is also known as a sacred place among the Japanese as it wasthe centre of training for Buddhism back in the 12th century. (UNESCO, n.d.) As a result,Buddhism is now the most popular religion in Japan, with 71.4% of the Japanese beingBuddhist. (ReligionFacts, 2016)Through the various elements in The Great Wave, we can see that ukiyo-e does communicatethe Japanese culture, and The Great Wave is just one of the few ukiyo-e examples that does so.In addition, the medium is important for communicating the culture as well. As aforementioned,only white mountain cherry wood is used for the wooden blocks in ukiyo-e in order to get thebest colour pay-off. Furthermore, a specific colour, Prussian Blue, was used in The Great Wave,and this colour was specially imported from Germany. (Hamilton, 2011) This shows that theJapanese do not cut corners even when producing art pieces, and the materials they use willalways have to be of the highest quality in order to produce pieces that will withstand thedecades. They are also so committed and dedicated to getting the best materials, that they willimport colours from a European country even though shipping was not cheap back then.RepresentationThrough the example of Hangaku Gozen, women warriors can be seen to be represented inukiyo-e. Representation “refers to the use of language and images to create meaning about theworld around us”. (Sturken & Cartwright, 2009) Representation can be seen in the form oflanguage, music, art, and even food to reflect what a particular culture is like. It is throughthese tangible and intangible artefacts that individuals of another culture is able to get anunderstanding of how a certain culture wants to be represented. At times, the meaning of an artpiece may not be obvious to individuals. It is then up to the individual to construct the meaning 5

The Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e: Culture, Representation, and Conservationof the art to understand what it represents. Representation is also a way to portray roles in asociety, and most commonly, it can be used to represent women in society. Hangaku Gozen (Ukiyo-e, n.d.)Hangaku Gozen is an ukiyo-e piece that illustrates the representation of women warriors inJapan. Hangaku Gozen is one of the few Japanese female warrior samurais known in classicalliterature. (Amdur, 1996) She is best known for her skills with a bow and arrow, and as suchthat was included in the ukiyo-e of her done by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. (Ukiyo-e, n.d.) In 1201,she fought in the Kennin Uprising to overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate, who was theJapanese feudal military government at that time. (Amdur, 1996) In addition, she led a 3000men army against 10000 soldiers in defence of Fort Torisakayama. (Amdur, 1996) Not onlywas Gozen skilled in the battlefield, her looks were also at the envy of many others. After her 6

The Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e: Culture, Representation, and Conservationarmy was subdued by the enemy and she was captured, an enemy warrior sought her as a bridedue to her beauty. (Hoffman, 2011) Accepting the marriage required courage, as her fate wouldbe uncertain after which. Ultimately, Gozen was known as a female warrior not only for herskills in the battlefield, but also for her bravery going in to the marriage.Ukiyo-e was likely chosen as the medium for Hangaku Gozen as it results in a piece of art thathas sharp and precise lines and edges, much like the characteristics of Gozen. There is harmonybetween the choice of medium and the subject of the art as both are strong and powerful, andwill not be easily defeated. The choice of such a sturdy medium allows Yoshitoshi to enhancethe meaning of his art. This is in contrast to paintings of Geishas, which are often done with apaintbrush, resulting in softer lines. This gives off the idea of “softness” which is typical of aGeisha, as they are often seen as delicate, elegant, and graceful.ConservationConservation of ukiyo-e is tough, but is still practiced by some organisations in a bid to raiseawareness of this Japanese art form. Conservation is about the changes that has occurred overthe years, and what has been lost or preserved. One on hand, if it is something tangible,conservation will be made easier due to the ability to simply frame it up and place it in amuseum. For art, although there is the difficulty of maintenance due to external elements, it isnow made easier through technological developments. On the other hand, intangible items suchas myths or proverbs will be harder to conserve. While it is possible to conserve them bywriting it down and storing it in a library, it loses its meaning if individuals no longer pass iton from generation to generation. For example, many indigenous languages are now becomingendangered due to the lack of people speaking them. (Ravens, 2009) Most of these people havenow conformed to English, as it is the lingua franca. 7

The Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e: Culture, Representation, and ConservationIn the case of The Great Wave, its production methods have diversified due to it being an iconicJapanese piece now. It has become a popular Japanese souvenir for tourists, and as such TheGreat Wave can now be seen on umbrellas, jackets, towels, and dresses just to name a few. Ithas also been preserved in cyberspace in the form of an emoji. (Gamerman, 2015) Lookingspecifically at prints of The Great Wave, they are now rarely produced through woodblockprinting; instead, they are being printed with an offset lithography press. (Wanczura, n.d.) Thismay be due to the high demand for prints of The Great Wave, and since woodblock printing istime and labour intensive, machines have the ability to substitute it and print mass qualities ofthe piece at a quicker pace. Original prints of The Great Wave are often not of very good quality,as the colours have faded over the years. This may be due to the prints being in abundant backthen, so individuals who owned it did not think much about preserving it well. Reproductionsof The Great Wave, however, are often in better condition. (Crossland, 2000) This may be dueto modern printing technologies that have the ability to produce prints with a more pigmentedand lasting colour. Paper quality also plays a role, as paper that is more porous can afford toabsorb more ink, therefore allowing the colour to penetrate deeper into the paper and be moreresistant towards external elements.Many art galleries and cultural centres have started to include woodblock printing in theirprograms in an attempt to revive this form of art. They often invite an expert to do a livedemonstration of the printing, so that individuals are able to learn more about this Japanese artform. (Art Gallery of NSW, 2011) However, these experts are often elderly Japanese men, ascarving the woodblock is hard work and does not interest many youths. It is highly possiblethat woodblock printing are discontinued in the future due to a lack of youths willing to carryon this Japanese handicraft. (Crossland, 2000) 8

The Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e: Culture, Representation, and ConservationReflectionWhile The Great Wave serves to communicate the Japanese culture to the rest of the world, Ithink that it also acts as a reminder to the Japanese to stay humble at all times. This is especiallyseen through the magnitude of the wave, which towers over Mt Fuji. The Great Wave was partof a 36-piece collection, yet it was the most popular piece among the Japanese. I feel that thepopularity of this piece was not due to the way it communicates Japanese culture, but rather itsease of accessibility. When the print was first released, it was sold at a very low price and thuseasily accessible to the Japanese. (Gamerman, 2015) In fact, the Japanese art critics did notthink highly of the piece, and it only received recognition when it travelled to Europe.(Gamerman, 2015) In addition, I think that this piece was popular among the masses due toThe Golden Spiral. The Golden Spiral is often used in paintings to achieve balance and beauty,and Leonardo da Vinci has been known to use it in many of his famous paintings. (Hom, 2013)In The Great Wave, the wave bears resemblance to The Golden Spiral. The masses may havefound The Great Wave pleasing to the eye for that reason and thus deciding to purchase it,without giving it much thought as to how it communicates the Japanese culture.While the representation of women warriors is prevalent in ukiyo-e, as can be seen from theexample of Hangaku Gozen, this is not to say that all women represented in ukiyo-e arewarriors. There are many ukiyo-e pieces of beautiful and dainty women as well, (Library ofCongress, n.d.) but these perhaps have not been picked up by museums, leaving only the ukiyo-e of women warriors to be exhibited in museums. This issue of representation may have widerimplications, as it may lead to an erasure in cultural preservation. Future generations may thenthink that only ukiyo-e of women warriors exist as they do not see any other types of womenin ukiyo-e pieces. 9

The Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e: Culture, Representation, and ConservationLastly, it is important to consider whether or not it is worth preserving the art of ukiyo-e. Ukiyo-e was popular during the Edo period only because of its abilities to mass produce prints at arelatively low price. However, modern technologies can now easily replace it. While ukiyo-eis an ancient Japanese art form, the quality of its products cannot be compared with art worksprinted today. This is because modern art works use materials of higher quality and as such areable to last a longer period of time. Furthermore, ukiyo-e is labour and time consuming andtherefore not many youths are interested in learning this form of art. With the ukiyo-e skillspossessed mainly by the elderly, it is highly possible that ukiyo-e will die off along with them.ConclusionIn summary, ukiyo-e can be seen to communicate the Japanese culture and represent womenwarriors, but may unfortunately become a dying trade due to a lack of conservation. The GreatWave off Kanagawa and Hangaku Gozen communicates the Japanese culture and representswomen warriors respectively, and this is achieved not just through the art piece itself, but alsothe choice of medium. As The Great Wave off Kanagawa has become a popular Japanesesouvenir, it will be conserved in the years to come as long as tourists are interested in it.However, it is hard to keep the art form of ukiyo-e alive as the younger generation has nointerest in it. Furthermore, the function of ukiyo-e that supposedly communicates Japaneseculture and represents women warriors may just be an outcome of over-analysing and over-representation. If that is the case, and taking into account the fact that modern technologies caneasily replace ukiyo-e in terms of mass production, it is worth considering if ukiyo-e deservesto be conserved. 10

The Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e: Culture, Representation, and ConservationBibliographyAmdur, E. (1996). The role of arms-bearing women in Japanese history. Journal of Asian Martial Arts, 5(2), 10-35.Art Gallery of NSW. (2011). Ukiyo-e woodblock printmaking with Keizaburo Matsuzaki. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8uF3PZ3KGQBenfey, C. (2004). The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japan. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.Chiappa, J. N. (2016). The Production of Japanese Woodblock Prints. Retrieved from: http://mercury.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/prints/process.htmlCrossland, T. A. (2000). Modern Day Woodblock Printers Still Working In Japan. Retrieved from: http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/uchida.htmEliot, T. S. (2010). Notes towards the Definition of Culture. London: Faber & Faber.Fukada, A., & Asato, N. (2004). Universal politeness theory: application to the use of Japanese honorifics. Journal of pragmatics, 36(11), 1991-2002.Gamerman, E. (2015). How Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave’ Went Viral. Retrieved from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-hokusais-the-great-wave-went-viral-1426698151Hamilton, A. (2011). Katsushika Hokusai: Swept away by Japanese genius. Retrieved from: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/katsushika-hokusai- swept-away-by-japanese-genius-6281499.htmlHoffman, M. (2011). Women Warriors of Japan. Retrieved from: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2011/10/09/general/women-warriors-of- japan/#.WJrE3Rgy-RsHom, E. J. (2013). What is the Golden Ratio? Retrieved from: http://www.livescience.com/37704-phi-golden-ratio.htmlKhan Academy. (2016). Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave). Retrievedfrom: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/south-east-se-asia/japan-art/a/hokusai-under-the-wave-off-kanagawa-the-great-waveLibrary of Congress. (n.d.) The Floating World of Ukiyo-E. Retrieved from: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/ukiyo-e/intro.htmlMcLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: Signet. 11

The Ways of Seeing Ukiyo-e: Culture, Representation, and ConservationMerritt, H. (1990). Modern Japanese woodblock prints: the early years. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press.Nirei, H. (2016). A Brief History Of 'The Great Wave': Japan's Most Famous Artwork. Retrieved from: https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/hokusai-s-great-wave/Ravens, T. (2009). Indigenous languages dying - and fast. Retrieved from: http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/indigenous-languages-dying-and- fast/news-story/a44bb3699111dafede58018570265d37ReligionFacts. (2016). Japan. Retrieved from: http://www.religionfacts.com/japanSalter, R. (2001). Japanese woodblock printing. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press.Sturken, M., & Cartwright, L. (2009). Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Taylor, K., & Lennon, J. (2012). Managing cultural landscapes. Oxfordshire: Routledge.The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (n.d.) Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki namiura), also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji(Fugaku sanjūrokkei), Retrieved from:http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45434The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2003). Woodblock Prints in the Ukiyo-e Style. Retrieved from: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ukiy/hd_ukiy.htmUkiyo-e. (n.d.) Female Warrior Hangaku Gozen. Retrieved from: https://ukiyo- e.org/image/japancoll/p425-yoshitoshi-female-warrior-hangaku-gozen-10004 UNESCO. (n.d.) Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration. Retrieved from: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1418Wanczura, D. (n.d.) The Great Wave off Kanagawa - by Hokusai. Retrieved from: https://www.artelino.com/articles/the-great-wave.asp 12