ichimonji bokashi　一文字ぼかし

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

A printing technique for producing graduated tones (shading) on woodblock prints *ukiyo-e 浮世絵. The gradation resembles the numeral one ichimonji, a horizontal line when written in Japanese. Employed for depictions of the sky in almost all the landscape prints of Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849) and Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (also known as Andou 安藤 Hiroshige;1797-1858) where a graduated band at the top or on the imagined horizon line suggests aerial effects. A specific kind of wiped graduation called *fuki bokashi 拭きぼかし was used to apply a horizontal band of moisture to the wood block, usually with a damp rag. Then a small amount of pigment was applied across the block in the same direction as the band of moisture, in such a way that the color is stronger either at the top of the band, fukisage 拭き下げ, or at the bottom, fukiage 拭き上げ. An impression is taken. Sometimes three separate impressions (a dark band, a light band, and a band fading into nothing) will be taken off the same block.

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*bokashi ぼかし

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