Enfilade

The Wonders of Woodblock Printing: Experiencing Early Modern Japan, with block cutter Nagai Saeko and printer Ogawa Nobuto, in conversation with Elenor Ling and Laura Moretti
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 13 August 2022, 2pm

Katsushika Hokusai, Block-cutting and printing surimono, 1825, color print from woodblocks, with metallic pigment and blind embossing, 213 x 191 mm (Cambridge: Fitzwilliam Museum, P.438-1937).

Wonderfully flexible in shaping visionary mise-en-page and in combining text and images, woodblock printing fuelled a buoyant publishing industry in early modern Japan. From the seventeenth century until the end of the nineteenth century woodblock-printed books and ephemera inundated the market, firing the imagination of authors, artists, publishers, and readers. This two-hour workshop brings this rich tradition to your fingertips, featuring professional block cutter Nagai Saeko and printer Ogawa Nobuto from the Sekioka Mokuhanga studio in Tokyo. You will observe how a woodblock is cut, experience how to print from it, and engage with original early modern woodblocks. In conversation with Laura Moretti, there will be a chance to learn more about how a publisher’s workshop would have operated. There will also be an opportunity to view some of the Fitzwilliam’s colour woodblock prints and printed books in the Study Room with Curator Elenor Ling.

This workshop is run in conjunction with the Ninth Summer School in Early Modern Palaeography at Emmanuel College. It is generously sponsored by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Mitsubishi Corporation London Branch, and Jonathan Hill Bookseller.

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