Ukiyo-e Illustrations

We introduce below tools to search for ukiyo-e illustrations by artist and other criteria.

The call number of the National Diet Library is in brackets 【 】 following the bibliographic information.

1. Searching by Author

Illustration indexes of various complete art collections are as follows. One can research things such as in what complete works collection the illustration has been collected, whether the illustration is in black and white or color, etc.

The search method for works of individual painters is as follows:

2. Searching by Title

Illustration indexes of various complete art collections are as follows. One can research things such as in what complete works collection the illustration has been collected, whether the illustration is in black and white or color, etc.

3. Searching by Theme

For nishiki-e with Edo period manners and customs as the theme, please refer to the search guide, "Illustrations that Show the Everyday Life of the Common People in the Edo Period". *in Japanese

The following are reference books with indexes searching by theme.

  • "Genshoku ukiyoe dai hyakka jiten " (Encyclopedia of Full-color Ukiyo-e) 11 Vols. (Taishukan Shoten 1980-1982 【YP14-684】)
    Volume 4, "Depicted Subjects", includes commentaries on themes in the fields of setsuwa (tales), densetsu (legends), and drama, as well as 431 illustrations by theme and one can search illustrations by proper name with the index at the back of the book.
    Volume 5, "Customs", assembles 552 illustrations depicting customs pertaining to the four seasons, events, daily life, and pastimes, and has an "Item Index by Classification" at the back of the book.
    The back of Volume 11 has a general index for illustrations anthologized in all of the volumes. In addition to the items detailed in the subject index, one can look up illustrations from fields such as fine art drawings, portraits of kabuki actors, etc.

The method for searching art anthologies (exhibition catalogs, etc.) by theme is as follows:

4. Internet Image Databases

The following are typical websites:

5. About the Nishiki-e Collections of the National Diet Library

As most of the nishiki-e of the National Diet Library have been inherited from the Imperial Library of Japan, they are housed in the Tokyo Main Library Rare Books and Old Materials Room.
 These nishiki-e have already been digitized and these digital images can be seen on screen via the National Diet Library Digital Collections (Rare Books and Old Materials).

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