UTAMARO.—Yedo Meibutsu Nishikiye Kosaku. “The making of colour-prints, the famous product of Yedo: after the engraver’s rough engraving the design is carefully carved.” An illustration of the carving of wood-blocks fancifully represented as being done by women. From a print in the Victoria and Albert Museum. J. 5040. DIAGRAM:——Method of framing a block to prevent warping. DIAGRAM:—The _Baren._—Its internal construction DIAGRAM:—The _Baren._—Position of pad in sheath. DIAGRAM:—The _Baren._—Method of use. DIAGRAM:—Printer’s Desk. HOKUSAI.—Original drawing for the key-block of an unpublished colour-print in the series called “The Hundred Poets explained by the Nurse.” A junk, with straw sail, conveying three travellers; at the bow a breaking wave. At the top right-hand corner is a poem by Hoshoji no Nyudo Saki no Kwampaku Daijo Daijin. O’er the wide sea plain, / As I row and look around, It appears to me / That the white waves, far away, / Are the ever-shining sky. From a drawing in the Victoria and Albert Museum. J. D. 1447. TOYOKUNI. I.—Working proof from the key-block of a colour-print. A theatrical scene; with the actors Nakayama Tomisaburo and Ichikawa Komazo in the parts of the Geisha Sankatsu and Hanshichi. The artist has added a wash of red colour to the print, with the following MS. note to the printer, “Please gradate the colour like this.” From a print in the Victoria and Albert Museum. J. 8494. HISTORICAL NOTE The process of colour-printing from wood-blocks, used in Japan from the early part of the 18th century, has much in common with that of the so-called _chiaroscuro_ wood-cuts first produced in Italy and Germany during the 16th century, of which the work of Andrea Andreani (1540-1623) supplies good examples. It is possible that the Japanese method was derived from this source, either directly or by way of China. Japanese tradition ascribes the invention to Takekawa Minosuke (Manji Period, A.D. 1658-1660); and a volume of Costume Designs in the Museum, dated 1667 (O4. C. 20), is printed in colours, only one, however, being used on each plate. The Chinese are known, with certainty, to have employed this process before the end of the 17th century; but no Japanese colour-print has yet been recorded, which can be placed, authentically, earlier than the second quarter of the 18th century. Credit for the first production of them is generally given to Torii Kiyonobu (1664-1729); but the greatest development was due to Suzuki Harunobu (died A.D. 1770, aged 67 years). Japanese authorities say that the improvements popularized by this artist were invented by an engraver named Kinroku, in conjunction with a printer; and that Harunobu, employing them to reproduce his pictures, about the year 1765, thus laid the foundation of a school of artists who found their chief occupation in designing for this class of work. Katsugawa Shunsho (died A.D. 1792, aged 67 years) developed the process still further; and