Foreign Ships Offshore at Yokohama 1807 - 1879

This print of foreign ships offshore at Yokohama, was made by Utagawa Sadahide in 19th century Japan. It’s a woodblock print, a medium with a fascinating process. First, the artist creates a drawing, and then a specialist carves the design into a block of wood. The carver must have incredible skill because the lines in this print are so delicate, especially the rigging of the ships. Ink is then applied to the block, and paper pressed against it to transfer the image. Because each color requires a separate block, it is a painstaking process. In this case, the monochrome image is a potent choice, because it shows a clash of cultures. The foreign ships embody the industrialized world arriving on Japan's shores. Woodblock printing, by contrast, is an established, time-consuming method of production. So, in appreciating the image, we can consider both the ships and the means used to depict them.