V&A Japan Art Prints

A highlight of the collection features original woodblock paintings created by Ukiyo-e artists. This translates as ‘the floating world’ referring to the promiscuous society of theatre actors and courtesans whose style was the subject of fascination during the Edo period (1603 to 1868). Inexpensive woodblock paintings of these style icons and folktales were produced is high volumes and made art accessible to all. 

The most famous piece from the Japanese collection is Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Red Fuji: South Wind, Clear Dawn from a series of prints called the Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.