Sharaku (the ukiyo-e artist) 

My painting this week is a copy (mosha) of Sharaku’s portrait of the kabuki actor Otani Oniji III in the role of Yakko Edobei, a character in the play, The Colored Reins of a Loving Wife. This sort of outline picture is the first step in ukiyo-e print making. The outline picture would be glued face down on a wood block, and everything except for the lines would be carved away for printing. Some of the original ukiyo-e would be hand colored before being sold. When color printing technology was developed (nishiki-e), several copies of the outline picture would be printed and then marked up as to what colors would be placed where. Then separate wood blocks would be carved for each color to be used in the final print.