PRINTING

The Printing of the old colour-prints was done by a third person, neither the engraver nor the designer.

The finished block must first be thoroughly washed and dried. The colour is then applied with a brush, to the upper surface of the block, which rests on a low stand (Suridai) to which are affixed four small cushions of wet cotton (Yawara) to prevent slipping (fig. 6). This stand should have a downward slope of about 2 inches in 1 foot. The paper is wetted, about 6 hours before being used for printing, and hung up to drain. For the actual printing, it is laid on the upper surface of the block, register (Kento) being secured by means of an angular cut at one corner (Plate III.) called the “key” (kaji); and a line cut at another, called the “draw-close line” (hikitsuki). No other means of adjustment is used, but the skill of the old printers was so great that faults of register can very seldom be observed. The impression is then rubbed off with the Baren, used with a circular or zig-zag movement (fig. 5); and this operation is repeated in succession with each block, beginning with the key-block, until the prints are complete.

It is the modern, and was probably the old practice, to take the required number of proofs from each block in succession; and not to complete each print separately. The writer has observed that a modern Japanese printer takes an impression in from 15 to 25 seconds, without special effort.

The colours used were as follows:—

CARMINE (Beni). Made from the Safflower, Carthamus tinctorius, from which rouge is also prepared. The kind called Saiku-Beni is generally mixed with an acid derived from the Plum-fruit (Mukiume).
BLUE (Ao). Both Airō(indigo) and Hero (European blue) are now used. The old indigo was sometimes extracted from dyed rags.
YELLOW (Ki). Generally Zumi, a yellow dye, and Kiwo, orpiment, are used, and Shiwō, gamboge, for the best prints.
PURPLE (Murasaki). Formerly this colour was made by mixing Aigami (blue) and Beni (red), but now an imported purple is used.
GREEN (Midori). A mixture of either Hero and Kiwo, or Zumi and Airō.
ORANGE YELLOW (Tō-ō). Produced by mixing Zumi and Bengara (iron red) or Zumi and Yenji (rouge).
BLACK (Sumi). Yeizen Zumi(lamp-black) is used with the key-block. It should be steeped in water for five or six months, then thoroughly well mixed in a wooden dish with a wooden mixer. Tsuya-Zumi is the brilliant black used for such details as human hair, black lacquer objects, &c. It is obtained by the use of a Dosa medium (mixture of glue and alum); and printed from a separate block.
SILVER COLOR (Gin-ro). Lead powder mixed with glue.
GOLD COLOR (Kin-iro). Brass powder mixed with glue.
COPPER COLOR (Akegane-iro). Pure copper powder mixed with glue.
WHITE (Shiro). Powered white clay (Jōfun) mixed with glue. Clamshell powder (Namaguriko) is sometimes employed.
Bengara (IRON RED), Tan (RED LEAD) and MICA are also used.

NOTE.—The above colours are those given in the Bungei Riusan (see p. 22).

Great importance was attached to the grinding and mixing of the colours. The glue-water medium used for mixing with black was made in the proportion of about one-third of an ounce of glue to three-fourths of a pint of water; but these proportions varied with various qualities of the pigment or paper. In the case of other colours, glue was not always used, but rice-paste (made [pg 14] with rice-flour and boiling water); the actual being sometimes done in the process of applying the colour to the block. A little alum was dissolved in the cold water with which the rice-paste was mixed. A specially brilliant effect was produced by laying a light wash of rice-paste over the block before spreading the colours.

RELIEF PRINTING.—For this purpose, a special block is made for that part in the print where the relief is required. The print is laid back downwards on the block, in the opposite manner to that used when printing colour, and the impression is rubbed in with a tool of ivory—the canine teeth of the wild boar being the material most favoured.