In the 1600's, the Japanese capital moved from Kyoto to Tokyo. In the new capital, business was growing fast and traders suddenly had lots of money to spend. This gave rise to the ukiyo, or the floating world, which describes the urban lifestyle of gambling, red-light districts, and more, during this time period. The art of the age changed to show this and ukiyo-e, pictures of the floating world, was born.
Ukiyo-e used a new, much faster method developed at this time: woodblock▼ printing. First, the artist, normally a trained painter, designed the image. Next, a woodworker carved the images onto woodblocks. Finally, a printer used these woodblocks to print the image onto paper. Because they could be mass-produced, these prints were much more inexpensive than paintings, and popular art became no longer just for the wealthy.
Traditional Japanese art focused on the beauty of nature or the lives of the rich. The colorful ukiyo-e prints took art in a new direction by focusing on more common subjects such as sumo▼ wrestlers▼, geishas▼, common people, and ghosts. As the content continued to change, artists went beyond the world of entertainment and ukiyo-e became one of Japan's most distinct▼ art forms.
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