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Description
Ukiyo-e is what most people think of when you say "Japanese art". It involves chiseling pieces of wood in order to print repeatedly on paper. Like all Japanese art forms, it's autisticly meticulous and takes years of training to reach a normal standard. But it allowed Lords and spin-doctors during the dull-as-nails Edo era (1603-1868) to print of thousands of paintings for commoners to look at.

They were basically medieval Japanese superhero posters depicting real people doing some really stupid stuff (holding two swords while on horseback without a helmet with your enemies flying up in the air), and were sometimes written in panels, like comic books (early manga, anyone?). Japan also had a decent enough literacy rate during the Edo era that it was possible for stories to be widely distributed in this fashion. It was like the printing press in Europe around the same time, except based around drawings and visuals rather than words. The sheer number of Kanji (letters/characters) in Japanese meant that a printing press was never feasible, so it was far easier to simply write words by hand, or...convey the message through drawings. This is one of the reasons why comics slotted in so neatly in post war Japan; the traditions were already there.

Ukiyo-e evolved into a base for propaganda after the Meiji restoration in 1868. The sudden modernization of Japan allowed the government to act practically unopposed in China and Russia, leading to some shocking victories against the Chinese and the Russians. Some of the more extravagant and action-packed Ukiyo-e of this era were designed to portray the Chinese as backwards and the Russians as weak. Explosions and ship battles were very common themes. Many of the visual conventions explored at this time were to heavily influence Manga and Anime in the following century.

Description
Ukiyo-e is what most people think of when you say "Japanese art". It involves chiseling pieces of wood in order to print repeatedly on paper. Like all Japanese art forms, it's autisticly meticulous and takes years of training to reach a normal standard. But it allowed Lords and spin-doctors during the dull-as-nails Edo era (1603-1868) to print of thousands of paintings for commoners to look at.

They were basically medieval Japanese superhero posters depicting real people doing some really stupid stuff (holding two swords while on horseback without a helmet with your enemies flying up in the air), and were sometimes written in panels, like comic books (early manga, anyone?). Japan also had a decent enough literacy rate during the Edo era that it was possible for stories to be widely distributed in this fashion. It was like the printing press in Europe around the same time, except based around drawings and visuals rather than words. The sheer number of Kanji (letters/characters) in Japanese meant that a printing press was never feasible, so it was far easier to simply write words by hand, or...convey the message through drawings. This is one of the reasons why comics slotted in so neatly in post war Japan; the traditions were already there.

Ukiyo-e evolved into a base for propaganda after the Meiji restoration in 1868. The sudden modernization of Japan allowed the government to act practically unopposed in China and Russia, leading to some shocking victories against the Chinese and the Russians. Some of the more extravagant and action-packed Ukiyo-e of this era were designed to portray the Chinese as backwards and the Russians as weak. Explosions and ship battles were very common themes. Many of the visual conventions explored at this time were to heavily influence Manga and Anime in the following century.