They’re printed on both sides of the woodblock, four pages per side. There are four illustrations. We don’t know the story line and the Japanese is an older style my very educated Japanese wife can’t read. (Japan has had two alterations of written Japanese in the last 150 years) The intricacy and skill of the illustrations and the writing is amazing. Ood blocks were the only way the Japanese knew to print documents / books or pictures until the late 1800′s. After that they went to movable type and lithographs. Often these woodblocks would be used and then eventually the wood would be planed down and used / carved again for something else. This was because having the right kind of tight grained seasoned Japanese cherry wood was valuable. Consequently there are not a lot of these around, most of them eventually being destroyed. Because most of Japan’s city’s were burned during WW2, this would have resulted in many disappearing also. Most printing was done in the cities. When these were made a calligrapher would be called to do the writing / design. The wood carvers would then copy that writing / design exactly. (So it would print correctly) These are a work of art and skill. This is a relatively rare item. We have a small personal collection we are listing. It’s 33 x 8 1/2 inches (46.5 x 21.5 cm) and 1 inch thick (2.5 cm). Their total weight is 6 pounds. The item “ANTIQUE EDO JAPANESE WOOD CARVED HANGI WOODBLOCK / 8 Book Pages 4 Illustrations” is in sale since Sunday, March 7, 2021. This item is in the category “Antiques\Asian Antiques\Japan\Prints”. The seller is “lsjapanstuff” and is located in Alhambra, California. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Type: Paintings
- Region of Origin: Japan
- Featured Refinements: Japanese Woodblock Print
- Age: 1820 – 1870
- Primary Material: Wood
- Original/Reproduction: Antique Original
