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Colors in the water

The Pearl Divers at Ise, from the series Views of Famous Products of the Land and Sea

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), 1830s. Color woodblock print on paper. Smith College Museum of Art. When Prussian blue was introduced to Japan in the 18th century, it prompted the creation of a new genre of woodblock print within the ukiyo-e paradigm, termed aizuri ('blue-printed picture') and composed of an almost entirely blue color scheme, as here and in Katsushika Hokusai's famed Great Wave off Kanagawa.

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1. Edo period uchikake Edo period uchikake (outer robe). 19th century. Gifted to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1924. This robe is to be worn on the outside of other garments, in order to display to best advantage the gold embroidery on the white, green, and deep blue silk representing the sights of the city of Kyoto. The watery motif of the deep blue ground inspires a stillness of presence and is directly evocative of the cool waters surrounding Japan. White picks out sacred torii gates, whereas the green hills of Japan may be easily distinguished.
2. The Pearl Divers at Ise, from the series Views of Famous Products of the Land and Sea Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), 1830s. Color woodblock print on paper. Smith College Museum of Art. When Prussian blue was introduced to Japan in the 18th century, it prompted the creation of a new genre of woodblock print within the ukiyo-e paradigm, termed aizuri ('blue-printed picture') and composed of an almost entirely blue color scheme, as here and in Katsushika Hokusai's famed Great Wave off Kanagawa.

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1. The Pearl Divers at Ise, from the series Views of Famous Products of the Land and Sea Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), 1830s. Color woodblock print on paper. Smith College Museum of Art. When Prussian blue was introduced to Japan in the 18th century, it prompted the creation of a new genre of woodblock print within the ukiyo-e paradigm, termed aizuri ('blue-printed picture') and composed of an almost entirely blue color scheme, as here and in Katsushika Hokusai's famed Great Wave off Kanagawa.
2. Edo period uchikake Edo period uchikake (outer robe). 19th century. Gifted to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1924. This robe is to be worn on the outside of other garments, in order to display to best advantage the gold embroidery on the white, green, and deep blue silk representing the sights of the city of Kyoto. The watery motif of the deep blue ground inspires a stillness of presence and is directly evocative of the cool waters surrounding Japan. White picks out sacred torii gates, whereas the green hills of Japan may be easily distinguished.

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Colors in the water The history of Japanese art spans millennia and colorizes every aspect of life from prehistory to present day.

Some of the most famous eras in Japanese history are those around which art revolves. The Heian period, characterized by a courtly grace and lassitude, was richest in its cultural arts and produced what is hailed as the world's first novel. The Tale of Genji, however, was able to be an especially engaging story as it has never existed as a text in isolation but was rather an artistic production of brightly-colored paper and handwriting so artfully written as to successfully convey the emotion of the narrator. The story itself is an invaluable chronicle of a court in which art and fashion were of the highest importance, color infusing meaning into every interaction with it.

A more immediately recognizable form of Japanese art is the woodblock print in its most popular iteration, ukiyo-e ('pictures of the floating world'). At its peak in the Edo period (1603-1868), ukiyo-e were inexpensive and available in large quantities, so these pictures were able to be owned by anybody who so wished. Typical subjects for ukiyo-e are beautiful views, likenesses of actors, and portraits of women - all of which necessitate high color and invoke their associations.

The art of color in Japan has never been bound to the page, however, and artistry abounds in every sphere where it can exist, where colors codify clothing and ritualize tea ware. The colors of stylistic movements pour out from screens onto boxes and furniture seamlessly.

Click below to start following the blue that manifests in different media in Japanese art, and explore its relationship to other colors and media.