[p. 26]

HISIKAWA-MORONOBU AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRINTS

Who, then, originated such artistic wood-cuts? From my point of view the development of the modern art of colour prints cannot be attributed to the efforts and merits of any single artist, for, as has already been pointed out, it can be traced back to fairly remote origins. Of all the artists, however, who helped to raise Japanese prints to their high artistic levels, Hisikawa-Moronobu (who died in 1694) must be regarded as the most deserving of honour. He was also one of the foremost ukiyo-e painters, and founded what may be styled the Hisikawa school of genre art. Moronobu had learned the methods of the Tosa and Kanō schools, which were regarded as representative of orthodoxy in Japanese painting, and then so modified them in his own way as to render his art best suited for depicting the manners and customs of his time. In fact, Moronobu created a new style of genre picture for a new age, and may justly be called the perfecter of the hand-painted ukiyo-e. But he did not stop there. In the field of engraving he produced artistic prints which most delighted the “new men of the new age.” He thus deserves the chief place of honour, both as an ukiyo-e painter and an ukiyo-e engraver.

In fact, Moronobu devoted almost his whole energy to prints rather than to pictures painted by hand. One may nearly count on one’s fingers the pictures painted by

[p. 27]

him with his own hand and surviving to this day, whereas there remain a great many prints made by him. In many instances each picture is complete in itself, but by far the largest number of his prints are bound in book-form. Generally, two or three of the picture-books make up a set, but in some cases a set or series consists of several books. And as each volume contains more than a dozen prints, and as Moronobu published more than a hundred sets of such picture-books, his complete works impress us greatly if only by the mere number of prints they contain. This should suffice to make it perfectly clear that Moronobu looked upon himself and earned his living as a wood-cut artist rather than as a painter. When we realize that in the plebeian art of ukiyo-e, not only hand-painted pictures, but also prints occupied a very important position, we

[p. 28]

cannot over-emphasize the meritorious achievements of Moronobu, both as painter and printer. Here, then, follows the “genealogy” of Moronobu’s school of painters and engravers:

• Hisikawa-Moronobu
  • Morohusa
  • Moronaga
  • Huruyama-Morosige
    • Huruyama-Moromasa
      • Huruyama-Morotane
  • Sugimura-Masataka
  • Sugimura-Harunobu
  • Isikawa-Tomonobu.