From Longboats To Wasen (和船) Japanese Woodblock Masterpieces To Display At York Museum

Alternative Fruit brings creative education and inspiration to a world hungry for change. I don't ask for payment but donations are necessary. Please share with your networks and come back often.

From Longboats To Wasen (和船) Japanese Woodblock Masterpieces To Display At York Museum

29/12/2025

0 Comments

Utagawa Hiroshige, Asakusa Rice-fields and Torinomachi Festival, from the series ‘One Hundred (Image: YMT)

The Great Wave is a well-known piece, showing the dramatic lift of a blue ocean wave carrying a vessel through clumsy currents and natural forces. We trust the crew to keep the boat on course and to maintain stability through the rough weather but can’t help being awed by the majesty of the incomprehensible depths and their power. Another race of people from times gone by would have also known a few things about this kind of travel. The Vikings were also a sea-faring people, and they would travel across Northern Europe in longboats often traversing weather much like that shown in the Japanese woodprint of the Great Wave.

The art of Japanese woodblock printing, or mokuhanga (木版画), originated in the 6-7th Century. A group of inventive Buddhists began utilising the printing ability of carved wood to reproduce sacred symbols and little texts. This was long before the European printing press had emerged as a world defining force. By the early 7th Century, the art of mokuhanga had spread from industrious religious practices to a more mainstream activity. At first they were used to reproduce books and other texts much in the same way that modern printing worked up into the 20th century when magnetic processes began to take shape.

Artists began turning their attention to the process to discover what they could achieve much later in the history of woodblock printing. This began to take prominence during the 17th Century in the form of Ukiyo-e (浮世絵). Images of the Floating World are a specific type of woodblock print that didn’t only depict boats and floating objects, but landscapes, dramatic social scenes, portraits, and buildings. The postcard effect of set scenes with emotional connection gave rise to an entire new fashion in the Japanese art world. During the 18th and 19th Century the artform expanded in scope and ideal, evolving into a much-loved past-time with far reaching traditional roots. It’s images from this period that became famous for their impact and early use of pop art.

Visitors to York Art Gallery can discover a wealth of Japanese woodblock printing specimens plus hundreds of other artefacts from the period and culture. You’ll be able to see real-life examples of Japanese armour and costume along with printing materials, of course there will be a huge selection of prints to admire too. Exploring the history of progression of the art form through artists such as Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige and Kitagawa Utamaro, the exhibit that runs from February 27th to August 30th 2026 will inspire and educate anyone with a passion for iconic image design.

The York Art Gallery will also have an outside element; the Japanese Garden has been carefully curated by Garden Manager Steve Williams and will showcase a breadth of Japanese foliage and design ethic that will be repurposed around the wider garden once the exhibition is over.  Along with a series of workshops, talks, and interactive experiences, the showcase is expected to attract a mix of people from many corners of the art lover world and bring them together into a once in a lifetime clash of culture.

Katsushika Hokusai, The Great Wave. c.1829-32 (Image Maidstone Museum)

Make sure to read the latest book from the author of Alternative Fruit: Parenting Superintelligence: From Code to Conscience by Rowan B. Colver

Thank You for reading Alternative Fruit

Your Resource For Creative And Artistic Enrichment

Please consider supporting this free-to-read journal by shopping with the following partners: