Female Representation through Japanese Woodblock Printing

Trigger warning: some pictures contain nudity.

My research explores on how women are portrayed in Ukiyo-e art in both museum and real life. 'Ukiyo' means the world of people, and 'e' means picture; so, the term translates as picture of the floating world. It is referred to artworks that depict the everydayness of people during isolation of sixteenth century Japan. Ukiyo-e artists center their subjects on common people, using woodblock printing techniques. It is a sophisticated and delicate technique, requiring specialist in each process. But once it is done, it is easy to reproduce the same design, making it a popular art form that later influences Van Gogh and other artists work worldwide.

I chose Tokyo National Museum because it has a permanent exhibition dedicated solely for Ukiyo-e arts. I will focus on Bijin-ga, which depicts pictures of beautiful women. An important note here is that these portrayals are only a small part of their actual experience. And a lot of the pieces are presented through lens of male gaze.

During the Edo period, Japanese society is heavily influenced by Neo-Confucianism thinking. Art historian Julie Nelson Davis summarizes the impact of Neo-Confucianist ideals on women: “A women’s value thus resided in her chastity and mildness, self-effacement and self-control, and, most of all, her service and submission to patriarchal authority.” This idea is reflected on how they are shown as the themes I noticed are as shown in the pictures:

• caretaker
• passivity
• women in their everydayness - mundane activities

Another note that I notice is a lot of the outfit that the women are wearing has the color red. Red is perceived to be a romantic color, serving to sexually attract others.

The Yoshiwara or the legal entertainment district, which was very popular and a growing demand of the time. The place has also come to define the culture of that period. This piece is classified as 'shunga' or erotic art, which is translated as spring - a euphemism for sex in Japanese. Shunga prints are created primarily for and by men, serving to please the male fantasy. As demonstrated here, the artist portrays woman's leg partially and breasts to feed on male desire; thus, profiting out of women's bodies.

Lastly, in a way, Ukiyo-e art has become an iconography of Japan because of its pleasurable aesthetic, and the significance of women. The art does not only exist in woodblock printing form but in commercials, signs, restaurants/home decorations and even at airports!