Japanese wood-cutting and wood-cut printing / by T. Tokuno ; edited by S.R. Koehler.
- Tokuno, T.
- Date:
- 1894
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Japanese wood-cutting and wood-cut printing / by T. Tokuno ; edited by S.R. Koehler. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![printer in protlnciug the various hues, tints, and shades with printing brushes, in precisely the same -way as the water-color painter. This holds good also ot the engraver. The arts of engraving and of i)rinting are practiced in Japan according to the dictates of experience, with no, or at the most but very slight, mechanical assistance. Cost of designs. The original design of Tinaka genji, by Kuni- teru, called also Yichiyusai, cost 10 yen (about $7.00). That of Naudina domestica, by Chinzan, Tsubaki, cost the same sum. „ 1 • 1 • - AT Cost of engraving. Yinaka genji, engraved by Kokichiro, Mo- rikawa, cost 16 yen (about $12.30), and took tlie engraver about 20 days. [The three sheets, executed respectively in 25, 20, and 23 printings, or in all 74 printings, requii-ed tbe cutting of 37 blocks. See the notes by tlie editor, p. 240, concerning the discrepancy between number of print- ings and number of blocks.] Nandina domestica, engraved by Kotaro, Kido, cost 8.4 yen (about $0.38), and took about seven days in the doing. [There are 33 print- ings, but the number of blocks used is not stated.] Cost of printing. The printer of Yinaka genji, Tsurusabro, Nakamura, received 70 sen (about 54 cents) per day. He printed 3,000 sheets per day from the black block, and 700 to 800 sheets per day irom the color blocks. The printer ot Nandina domestica, Yiwakichi, Yamamoto, received one yen (about 76 cents) per day. He finished about 200 sheets per week. The people engaged in home industries do not generally take a rest on Sunday. The week, therefore, has seven days of about eight hours each. As i^andina domestica lias 33 printings, 200 finished sheets are equal to 0,000 impressions per week, or 943 per day. The numbers difier, however, according to the diff-erent nature of the blocks. Of the easiest, for instance, such as a uniform green for the leaves, 1,200 to 1,800 sheets can be printed in a day, while of the most difiicult ones, such as those giving the half-tints in the fruit, only 000 to 700 sheets can be printed. NOTES BY THE EDITOR. To any one familiar with the history of the technique of relief engi;av- in«- the reading of Mr. Tokuno's communication makes it evident that the'methods used by the Japanese engravers of to-day, so far as they have not been influenced by European precept, are precisely those used in Europe in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. In other words, these artists are not, correctly speaking, wood-.n<7r«.rer. but wood-cuffer.. This is apparent from the material and the tools used by them The material is wood cut hi the direction of the.fiber,e.,iylanls for which, since Bewick's time. Mods cut across the fiber or grain have been substituted with us.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21782234_0032.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
