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Yoshida Hiroshi, “Sailboats: Forenoon (Hansen, gozen)” from the series ‘Inland Sea (Seto Naikai shû)’ (1926)

Explore Hundreds of Thousands of Japanese Woodblock Prints in a Ukiyo-e Archive

Grace Ebert

From Katsushika Hokusai’s unmistakable views of Mount Fuji to contemporary landscapes by Asano Takeji, Ukiyo-e Search collects a wide variety of Japanese woodblock prints. Programmer John Resig built the online database back in 2012, and the archive now boasts more than 223,000 individual artworks from the early 18th century to today. Encompassing an array of styles, subject matter, and aesthetic impulses, the database is organized by artist and time period, and the system facilitates easy comparison of copies held at museums and institutions around the world

Find some of our favorite works in the database below, and head to the archive to dive into Ukiyo-e history. 

A woodblock print of a woman combing her hair
Torii Kotondo, “Hair Combing” (1932)
A woodblock print of a waterfall
Katsushika Hokusai, “Kirifuri Waterfall at Kurokami Mountain in Shimotsuke” (ca. 1832)
A woodblock print of a person harvesting at twilight
Asano Takeji, “Twilight In The Village, Nara” (1953)
A woodblock print of two herons flying
Shoson Ohara, “White Herons and Willow” (1926)
A woodblock print of a bird among pink cherry blossoms
Bakufu Ohno, “Cherry Blossoms” (1950)
A woodblock print of two people on a boat at sea with a net and Mount Fuji in the background
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, “Mount Fuji on a Clear Day from the Sea off Tsukuda” (1843)
A woodblock print of a gleaming streetscape and temple in the rain
Tsuchiya Koitsu, “Sengaku Temple” (1933)

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