Two and a half centuries in five moves
The timeline below also explains the shop's core mechanic: the reprint waves of the twentieth century are the reason a single design can be offered here from three publishers at three prices.
1600s
Edo-period origins
Woodblock printing, long used for Buddhist texts, turns commercial in the new capital of Edo. Early single-color prints of city life establish the ukiyo-e trade.
1700s
The golden age of figures
Full-color printing (nishiki-e, "brocade pictures") arrives in the 1760s. Actor portraits and pictures of famous beauties dominate; publishers grow into real businesses.
1830s
The landscape era
Hokusai (active on Fuji c. 1830–32) and Hiroshige (Tōkaidō c. 1833–34) make the view itself the star. Everything in this shop’s launch catalogue comes from this decade’s two great series.
1860s–90s
Decline
The Edo period ends in 1868; photography and imported inks change the market. Yet the same era carries ukiyo-e to Europe, where it reshapes Impressionism.
1900s
Revival and the reprint century
Foreign demand — collectors like Frank Lloyd Wright among them — keeps the craft alive. Publishing houses re-carve the famous designs again and again. This is why one artwork exists at several prices in our inventory today.
Meet the two artists behind the landscape era: Hokusai · Hiroshige