WHAT IS MOKUHANGA?                                                           
AN APPRECIATION
by Elizabeth Forrest

In Asia and Europe, woodblock printing developed into separate, but in some ways, parallel traditions. To inquire into woodblock printing is to collide with some impressive contributions to cultural enrichment in various regions of the world: the invention of paper, moveable type and the printing press, leading to the spread of literacy and all that implies. Buddhist practices in China and Japan, before 1000 CE, saw the relationship between repeating stamped images of the Buddha on an unfurling paper scroll, and the prayer rhythms of the mantra. Later, gradual secularization in Europe and mercantile prosperity in Asian societies enabled woodblock prints to become an inexpensive mode of disseminating images for pleasure and connoisseurship.

The evolving technology and social roles of Japanese woodblock prints  lead one into all manner of resonances that can be revisited in contemporary work. For some artists especially printmakers, the fascination leads inevitably to the medium itself.

Speaking as one who came from far to research Japanese woodblock in Kyoto, the fascination lay not only in the technical learning experience, there was also a rich process of acculturation. Like the other foreigners in this exhibition I began with a temporary commitment which then extended into years. This kind of commitment also meant developing a facility in the language and daily customs. It meant responding to a hothouse of contemporary, as well as richly preserved, artistic activity in Japan. After a time, ordinary objects, architecture and art, became fraught with history, meaning and inner logic. As one caught up in the struggles of becoming a social being in a foreign land, the rituals of Japanese woodblock printmaking provided a profound key to understanding this strange universe.

This intense immersion experience may account for the passion that accompanies working in a medium that remains challenging, exotic and most importantly, capable of creating moments of the sublime, in the process itself.

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The essential components of creating a mokuhanga print were chosen as the title of the show to  emphasize the simplicity of the materials, while highlighting the distinction from oilbased woodblock. While the participants have their teacher, Professor Kurosaki, in common, for the most part their practice is divergent in the way they approach the woodblock print. The components of water, wood and paper however, leave their evidence in all the works.

Briefly I’d like to introduce the role of these components in the art of printing, followed by an illustrated run-through of the steps to make a print.

WATER
Japanese woodblock printmaking or mokuhanga uses waterbased colours, unlike the Western tradition of woodblock printing which uses petroleum based inks.

WOOD
Woodblock printmaking, by definition employs wood as its matrix. The smooth- surfaced block is first carved to achieve a preliminary key block, then ink is applied using the characteristic thick hake (ha-kay) brushes that resemble shoe brushes. A wood that carves without splintering or breaking, and that absorbs and holds some moisture on the surface, is the most desirable.

Traditionally, solid cherry with its very short, regular grain, facilitated the carving of fine delicate linear work. Today, shina “beniya” (Japanese for ‘linden wood veneer’), a specially manufactured Japanese plywood, is the  most satisfactory from both a carving and printing point of view. For contemporary practitioners, it has the additional advantage of being manufactured in larger dimensions accommodating larger scale works.  However, exploring use of more locally accessible woods is a challenge that will likely have to be taken up by mokuhanga artists who wish to work more sustainably.

PAPER                          
The  use of Japanese artisan made washi paper to print on– a quality kozo paper (mulberry) preferably, is almost essential. Long filament fibres absorb the pigments through capilliary action and the paper’s natural radiance enhances the reflective quality of the watercolour.

HAND PRINTING

The practice of mokuhanga has never included the need to invent a printing press, the reason being that the use of the baren is so completely satisfactory, even to the professional master printers who still make their living in Japan.

The lightweight, beautifully balanced traditional baren is hand made of lacquered layers of tissue thin washi, then equipped with a coiled spiral of elaborately knotted bamboo string. The final covering of  a tightly stretched bamboo shoot “skin” or take no kawa, (takay no kahwah) the knotted points, exquisitely flexible yet tough, are able to provide an ideal pressure pad. Printing effectiveness also depends on continuously moving the disk over back of the paper and the firm hand pressure of the printer. An aspect of it’s effectiveness is the varying pressure possible, depending on what is needed. It is akin to drawing in its sensitivity.

Artists also make use of the more recently invented ball bearing baren, with which one is able to exert much more emphatic pressure thanks to its sturdiness. It’s ideal for large, flat areas of printing that require maximum pressure.2