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◆ Otsu-e and Ukiyo-e |
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The two folk paintings in the Edo era |
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Both Otsu-e and Ukiyo-e were representative of the Edo era.
Ukiyo-e is very popular abroad, and its value is highly recognized.
On the other hand, Otsu-e began to decline once in the Meiji era, and later its value was recognized again.
What's the difference of recognition and evaluation after the Meiji era up to now?
What do you find on comparing the respective features? |
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Otsu-e |
Ukiyo-e |
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Feature |
・mostly handwritings
There is print art today.
・The touch is smooth but the depiction is loose and dynamic.
・a friendly souvenir with humor
・Subjects are like commercial characters. |
・mainly wood-block print
There are some handwritings.
・labor division between painters, engravers and printers
・beautiful with vivid designs and bold compositions
・a mass sold media publication for ordinary people |
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Production time |
3 minutes - 7 minutes |
long time
depends on the work |
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Price |
cheap
as cheap as a bowl of buckwheat noodle |
low cost
Because the same pictures were printed. |
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Painters' wages |
low |
low
But certain painters whose names were branded got high salaries. |
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Old works
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The number of works is less than Ukiyo-e.
very few remain |
cheap and mass produced
Some works were preserved in storehouses but others were leaked abroad because Ukiyo-e was unvalued after the Meiji era. |
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Famous painters |
Because Otsu-e was just a souvenir, there are no painters' signatures, marks or stamps.
In the Edo era they are not so much painters as craftsmen. |
many
Hokusai Katsushika, Hiroshige Utagawa, Utamaro Kitagawa, Shraku and so on. |
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Place to sell |
Otsu city then had just shy of fifty thousand people.
Otsu-e was sold to travelers on the Fifty-three stages of the Tokaido. |
the million plus city of Edo |
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Marketing strategy |
to meet the demand, enhanced cost performance
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Publishers pushed them as branded works.
To create a big hit, publishers chose which painters and theme would produce a profit. |
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Otsu-e which is designed to be bought quickly at the low cost was a souvenir for travelers on the Tokaido.
It seemed that traveling was a once-in-a-lifetime thing in the Edo era when people couldn't travel freely unlike today.
Otsu-e was selected by travelers who were already in Ise for visiting the shrine and trying to make a little side trip to Kyoto city for sightseeing.
Otsu-e was a supreme souvenir loved by ordinary people during the Edo era, because it was light, cheap, durable, and it had value of being an amulet.
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大津絵について 関連リンク |
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