aizuri-e
The term aizuri-e (Japanese: 藍摺絵 "blue printed picture") usually refers to Japanese woodblock prints that are printed entirely or predominantly in blue. When a second color is used, it is usually red. Even if only a single type of blue ink was used, variations in lightness and darkness (value) could be achieved by superimposing multiple printings of parts of the design or by the application of a gradation of ink to the wooden printing block (bokashi). • Illustration — Kajikazawa in Kai Province by Hokusai, 1831.
aizuri-e
Sawa Sekkyō · Private collection institution QS:P195,somevalue,P3831 · Public domain
- Field
- ukiyo-e.
- Period
- 1820.
- Region
- Japan.
- Related practice
- Prussian blue.
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for aizuri-e. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q2828843 · wikipedia · Aizuri-e
In this article
Gallery
From series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. The development of aizuri-e was associated with the import of the pigment Prussian blue from Europe in the 1820s. This pigment had a number of advantages over the indigo or dayflower petal dyes that were previously used to create blue. It was more vivid, had greater tonal range and was more resistant to fading. It proved to be particularly effective in expressing depth and distance, and its popularity may have been a major factor in establishing pure landscape as a new genre of ukiyo-e print. Early adopters included Hokusai in his Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (1830), most notably in The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Kajikazawa in Kai Province. Hiroshige also used Prussian blue extensively in his landscape prints. Other prominent Japanese artists to use it included Keisai Eisen, Utagawa Kunisada and Utagawa Sadahide. The theory that aizuri-e production was prompted by the 1842 sumptuary laws known as the Tenpō Reforms is no longer widely accepted.
• Illustration — White Falcon in a pine tree by Sawa Sekkyô, c. 1800 • Illustration — Kinryuzan Temple in Asakusa by Hiroshige II, mid-19th century. From the series Famous Places in the Eastern Capital.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Aizuri-e, revision 1360963922 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Terminology
620 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- action paintingMovement
- aeropitturaMovement
- AestheticismMovement
- agitpropMovement
- aka-eMovement
- Akita rangaMovement
- Alliterative RevivalMovement
- altermodernMovement
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with aizuri-e?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.