Nishikie - Nishikie

A printing style for ukiyo-e woodblock prints. It refers to multi-colored woodblock prints, which made a great advancement after the exchange of illustrated calendars in Edo in 1765 (Meiwa 2). The early multi-colored prints of around three colors were called beni-zuri-e to distinguish them. It means a beautiful picture like brocade, but since pressed pictures were called nishiki-e mainly in Kamigata at the time, it seems that the name Azuma (Azuma) nishiki-e was given to distinguish and compete with them. It soon came to be called simply nishiki-e. Nishiki-e is the product of the cooperation of artists who draw the sketches, carvers, printers, publishers, and connoisseurs, but among artists, Suzuki Harunobu was the most deeply involved and contributed to the style, so he is sometimes considered to be the founder. Since then, it has rapidly developed and spread due to its excellent color beauty and expressiveness, and after about 1780 (An'ei 9), almost no ukiyo-e prints other than nishiki-e were produced, and from the late Edo period to the Meiji period, ukiyo-e prints and nishiki-e became almost synonymous. Various improvements and ideas were added to the technique, and in the 19th century, some prints used dozens of colors, reaching their peak at the end of the Edo period.

[Hidetake Asano]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

浮世絵版画の版様式。1765年（明和2）に江戸で大流行した絵暦(えごよみ)交換会を機に飛躍的に進歩した多色摺(ずり)木版画をさし、初期の三色程度の多色摺は紅摺絵(べにずりえ)とよんで区別する。錦のように美麗な絵の意味であるが、当時おもに上方(かみがた)で押し絵を錦絵とよんでいたことから、それと区別し対抗する意図で東(あずま)（吾妻）錦絵と命名されたらしい。まもなく単に錦絵ともよばれるようになった。錦絵は、下絵を描く絵師と、彫師、摺師、版元、さらに好事家(こうずか)の協力による所産であるが、絵師では鈴木春信(はるのぶ)がもっとも深く関与し貢献したため、彼を創始者とすることもある。以後、その優れた色彩美と表現力によって急速に発展普及し、1780年（安永9）ごろ以降は錦絵以外の浮世絵版画はほとんど制作されなくなり、江戸後期から明治期には、浮世絵版画と錦絵はほぼ同意語となった。技法上も種々の改良やくふうが加えられて、19世紀に入ると数十色もの色版を使ったものも現れて、幕末にはその極限に達した。

［浅野秀剛］

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