Ukiyo-e

Ukiyo-e (浮世絵). A genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries, beginning in approx. 1620 when the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth on the Mayflower. Ukiyo-e artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica (shunga). The term ukiyo-e translates as ‘pictures of the floating world’ and the movement sought to idealize contemporary urban living. Hishikawa Moronobu is known as the father of Ukiyo-e.