Landscape and Legend

Utagawa Kunisada

Artisans, from An Up-to-Date Parody of the Four Classes

19th century

Triptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper, each sheet 36.8 × 25.4 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

A busy workshop staffed by women prepares blocks and paper for printing.

• Artisans were one of the four Edo classes, with warriors, farmers and merchants.
• Women were not normally in the trade, so the scene is a playful fiction.
• Read right to left: carving through the pasted design, clearing wood, sizing paper, a printer waiting.

Image: The Met Open Access · Public domain (Met Open Access)