UKIYO-E 浮世绘

Ukiyo-e (浮世絵) often translated as “pictures of the floating world,” refers to Japanese paintings and woodblock prints that originally depicted the cities’ pleasure districts during the Edo Period, when the sensual attributes of life were encouraged amongst a tranquil existence under the peaceful rule of the Shoguns. These idyllic narratives not only document the leisure activities and climate of the era, they also depict the decidedly Japanese aesthetics of beauty, poetry, nature, spirituality, love, and sex.

Dayflower, knotgrass (indigo) and Prussian blue are known to be blue colorants used in traditional ukiyo-e color prints.