Edo Mokuhanga Kitagawa Utamaro, “Five Beauties Competing in Charm”: Suminoe from Shiba — product view
A woman seated beside the framed Suminoe from Shiba print on a stone topped console in an evening interior.
Suminoe from Shiba displayed above a wooden cabinet with a shallow bowl and vase against a pale wall.
The framed Suminoe from Shiba print displayed in a pale stone recess beside a bowl, books, and a vase.
Suminoe from Shiba displayed above a wooden console beside a brass lamp, books, and dark ceramics.
Edo Mokuhanga Kitagawa Utamaro, “Five Beauties Competing in Charm”: Suminoe from Shiba — product view
A woman seated beside the framed Suminoe from Shiba print on a stone topped console in an evening interior.
Suminoe from Shiba displayed above a wooden cabinet with a shallow bowl and vase against a pale wall.
The framed Suminoe from Shiba print displayed in a pale stone recess beside a bowl, books, and a vase.
Suminoe from Shiba displayed above a wooden console beside a brass lamp, books, and dark ceramics.
Takahashi Kobo Co., Ltd. SKU: BJ_P_00087

Edo Mokuhanga Kitagawa Utamaro, “Five Beauties Competing in Charm”: Suminoe from Shiba

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Product Details

PRODUCT DETAILS

Utamaro’s Suminoe, revived through Edo woodblock craft

This contemporary revival of Kitagawa Utamaro’s Suminoe from Shiba draws on a surviving impression held by the Ota Memorial Museum of Art. Printed by hand on Echizen kizuki hosho washi, it brings together a finely carved hairline, restrained colors, and a playful rebus that once identified the sitter without naming her directly.

USE & APPRECIATION

Four ways to live with this object

An evening pause with Suminoe

Let Suminoe accompany a quiet evening beside your chair. Her poised gesture and restrained colors invite attention without dominating the setting, giving you fine lines and a small visual puzzle to revisit at leisure.

A woman seated beside the framed Suminoe from Shiba print on a stone topped console in an evening interior.

A poised portrait above warm wood

Use a simple wall above warm wood to give the portrait a clear place in the room. The sweep of dark hair and delicate profile hold the composition together, bringing presence through line rather than a busy palette.

Suminoe from Shiba displayed above a wooden cabinet with a shallow bowl and vase against a pale wall.

A closer encounter in a quiet recess

Choose a quiet recess where the portrait can be enjoyed at close range. The fine hairline and small rebus reward careful looking, allowing the hand-printed image to become a familiar object of curiosity.

The framed Suminoe from Shiba print displayed in a pale stone recess beside a bowl, books, and a vase.

Let the gesture hold the evening setting

Keep the portrait near the place where you unwind in the evening. Suminoe's raised hand and sweeping hair give the image a distinct rhythm, offering details to notice again in a calm, softly lit setting.

Suminoe from Shiba displayed above a wooden console beside a brass lamp, books, and dark ceramics.

OBJECT PASSPORT / CARE & USE

Care & Handling

Care guide for the Suminoe woodblock print: minimize light exposure and keep it away from direct or intense light.

Minimize exposure to all kinds of light during display and storage.

OBJECT PASSPORT

Product details

Dimensions
250 × 380 (335 × 480) mm
Material
Washi (Echizen kizuki hosho paper)
Product weight
137 g
Origin
Japan

Traditional hand-printed Edo woodblock print. 11 cherry-wood blocks and 13 impressions on Echizen kizuki hosho washi. The source work is held by the Ota Memorial Museum of Art.
Craft Heritage

CRAFT HERITAGE

Craft Heritage

Edo Mokuhanga developed from early monochrome prints that were colored by hand in styles known as tan-e, beni-e, and urushi-e. Printers later began using separate woodblocks for color, producing two- and three-color beni-zuri-e prints.

By 1765, gold, silver, and intermediate tones could also be printed from woodblocks, establishing the multicolor format. The carving and printing techniques developed during the Edo period have been refined and passed down to the present day.
How It’s Made

TRADITIONAL CRAFT PROCESS

How It’s Made

About the Making Process

Edo Mokuhanga is created through the coordinated work of a carver and a printer.
The carver cuts the design into natural cherry blocks.
The printer aligns handmade washi to the registration marks, applies pigment, and rubs the back of the paper with a baren.
The depth of the carving and the amount of pigment both affect the result, requiring precise adjustments from each specialist.
Multicolor works are built up one block at a time and may require more than 30 impressions.

1. Carving
  • The outlines of the original drawing are transferred to the key block and carved along the ink lines with a small knife. Nonprinting areas are cleared with chisels.
  • Two registration marks, kagi-kento and hikitsuke-kento, are carved into the block to ensure that the paper is positioned consistently.
  • Using a proof from the key block as a guide, the area required for each color is carved with knives or chisels on a separate color block. Cherry is used for the printing blocks.
2. Printing
  • A small, broom-shaped tool called a tokibo transfers pigment to the block, and a brush spreads it evenly. Handmade hosho washi is positioned against the registration marks.
  • A baren is rubbed firmly over the back of the paper, pressing the pigment deep into its fibers.
  • The color blocks are printed in sequence from lighter to darker colors. Some works require more than 30 separate impressions.
  • The printer adjusts the amount of pigment applied to the block in response to changes in temperature and humidity.
Meet the Maker

MEET THE MAKER

Meet the Maker

MAKER · BUNKYO, TOKYO

Color, Registered by Hand

At Takahashi Kobo, Edo woodblock printing is not treated as a historical image separated from its making. It remains a coordinated practice in which an artist's design, a carver's blocks, a printer's hand, and a publisher's direction meet on washi.

Yukiko Takahashi, sixth-generation representative of Takahashi Kobo, seated in the workshop.
Yukiko Takahashi, Sixth Generation

Takahashi Kobo was founded during Japan's Ansei era, between 1855 and 1860. The Takahashi family inherited the work of printers, and from the fourth generation also assumed the role of publisher—the person responsible for planning a work and coordinating the specialists who bring it into being.

Sixth-generation representative Yukiko Takahashi learned printing from her father before taking charge of the workshop. Her work extends from the reproduction of ukiyo-e to collaborations with contemporary artists, designers, architects, and animators. The workshop also develops projects that combine the transmission of technique with the training of younger craftspeople.

Many Hands, One Impression

Edo woodblock printing depends on a division of labor. An artist supplies the image. A carver separates its colors and cuts the required cherry-wood blocks. A printer places pigment on each block and transfers the layers to washi. A publisher directs the sequence and holds the complete work together.

The printer aligns the paper to registration marks called kentō and generally works from lighter areas toward deeper ones. Moisture in the paper, the balance of water, pigment, and paste, the pressure and movement of the baren, and the timing of each impression determine whether the colors meet cleanly and how the surface appears. Woodblock printing techniques include bokashi, which creates gradation through controlled handling of pigment on the block, and karazuri and kimedashi, which create relief in the paper without printed color. Alongside the layering of colors, this craft preserves a range of ways to work with the texture of washi.

A Tradition Made Useful Again

The workshop continues to reproduce historic prints, but it also develops new ways for woodblock culture to be encountered through contemporary images and objects. That activity is not a departure from the tradition's structure. Edo prints were themselves products of collaboration, publishing, and the visual culture of their time. Takahashi Kobo carries that structure forward by asking what should be printed now, who should be involved, and how the craft can remain intelligible to a new audience.
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