The History of Print: Suzuki Harunobu

by Pippa Phillips 
Editor of Prune Juice Journal of Senryu and Related Forms

Following  Okumura Masanobu's benizuri-e, a more sophisticated system of color printing called nishiki-e emerged in 1760’s Japan. Suzuki Harunobu would develop a method for creating vivid prints containing up to ten colors, which became known as “brocade prints.” The technique opened up a rainbow of possibilities for artists of the time.

Although his birthplace and birthdate are disputed, most historians think Suzuki Harunobu (Japanese: 鈴木 春信; c. 1725 – 8 July 1770) came from a samurai family of declining status. He began his career in the Torii school, making work that was skilled, but not innovative. His association with a group of literary samurai led him to create e-goyomi, or calendar prints. These works are the first examples of multi-color printing, allowing the technique to be dated precisely to the year 1764.

One of the challenges for early woodblock printing was the need for extremely precise alignment so that none of the colors overlapped. Harunobu’s solution was to create a system of registration marks called kentō. The blocks were carved with small positioning notches so that every successive block would land in exactly the same position. Nishiki-e depended on the collaboration of several skilled craftsmen, including the designer, woodblock carver, printer, and publisher.

The technique would allow progress in the depiction of landscape and the vivid fashions of the era. As well, artists could use the technique to produce wide range of visual effects, including delicate shading and subtle color transitions. The popularity of these affordable prints reflected the growth of an urban aesthetic sensibility that would challenge artistic traditions enjoyed by the aristocratic class.

One of Harunobu’s most famous works was the zashiki hakkei, or Eight Parlor Views. In it, the artist playfully re-imagines traditional themes in contemporary settings. The sequence reworks the traditional Eight Views of Omi, a set of landscape paintings, and reimagines them as domestic scenes.

The picture below, kotoji no rakugan (Descending Geese of the Koto Bridges), parodies Wild Geese Descending on a Sandbank. A young girl from a privileged family practices the koto. The diagonal arrangement of the moveable bridges suggests a skein of geese; the wood of the instrument can be compared to a sandbank, and the pine-strewn beach pattern of the girl’s kimono reinforces the allusion.