Early Modern Japan

The Edo Period

1600–1867 CE

Japanese woodblock print depicting Mount Fuji with a reddish hue and blue sky with clouds.

A period of isolation and also incredible artistic developments

Edo Period

The Tokugawa (Edo) Period was marked by 250 years of seclusion as well as the development of a middle-class and major innovations in art and literature

Japanese woodblock print of Mount Fuji under a blue sky with white clouds, featuring a red and brown mountain slope and a sea of trees at the base, known as "South Wind, Clear Sky" by Katsushika Hokusai.

VIDEO: What is nishiki-e in Japanese printmaking? | Katsushika Hokusai’s Red Fuji

Japanese woodblock print of a large wave, boats, and Mount Fuji in the background.

VIDEO: What is woodblock printing? | Hokusai’s The Great Wave Off Kanagawa

Framed reproduction of "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" by Hokusai, featuring large blue waves and Mount Fuji in the background, hung on a light blue wall.

VIDEO: Conversation with a kid about Hokusai's The Great Wave

Traditional Japanese ukiyo-e print depicting several people wearing kimonos, two indoors behind a railing, others on the street, including a person in a straw hat.

VIDEO: What is sumizuri-e in Japanese printmaking? | Hishikawa Moronobu and his sumizuri-e

Japanese woodblock print depicting blooming plum trees with people in the background, set against a colorful sky.

VIDEO: What is ukiyo-e? | Utagawa Hiroshige's Plum Estate, Kameido

Japanese print by Hokusai showing a figure with burly hair and scowl painted in red

VIDEO: Hokusai, The Demon-Queller Zhong Kui

Important terms and concepts

Edo period

Early Modern Period

Woodblock Print

Katsuhika Hokusai

Utagawa Hiroshige

Hishikawa Moronobu

ukiyo-e

sumizuri-e

nishiki-e

harimaze

Zhong Kui

Japanese woodblock print depicting blooming a man fishing with a mountain in the background
Japanese woodblock print depicting two bats below a crescent moon and Japanese text to the right

VIDEO: Katsuhika Taito II, Bats and Dragon (harimaze print)

Artists

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