Today, we see numerous color print material around us, which give beautifulvariegation to our daily lives.

It is a well known fact that today, color printing is done by the methodof overlapping of three colors. Then, what answer do you have to a questionof how long ago and where we can find the origin of multi-color printing.

In the history of printing, the inventions of lead type and a printingmachine by Gutenberg of Germany, around the middle of the 15th century,is most famous. However, the existing "42-line Bible" printedby this technology was still colored by hand with a brush, from which itcan be conjectured that the technology of color printing had still a longway to go around that time.

In order to trace back to "the origin of multi-color printing",we thought the following conditions must be met.

1. The product must be in existence as evidence.

2. The quality of the color printing must be good as nearly as thatof modern color printing.

3. The product must be the one which was made by mass-production method.

In the present day, the information (communication)-oriented age, thehigh technologies, for which a catch word, DIGITAL, is often used, havedeveloped to such an extent that ordinary people can hardly catch up withit. The color copies or the color printers instantly provide us with colorprint materials. Under these circumstances, it may become more and moredifficult to trace back the origin of multi-color printing.

Now, again, when and where did color printing originate?

The answer to that question is that it was 230 years ago in Japan. "Nishiki-e"in Japan was the origin of multi-color printing in the world. In 1765, a Ukiyo-epainter, Harunobu Suzuki, invented "Nishiki-e", a wood-blockprint with multi colors. "Nishiki-e" is made by the method utilizedin "Ukiyo-e", and at later times, "Ukiyo-e" and "Nishiki-e"came to be used interchangeably. Speaking of Ukiyo-e, about one hundredyears before this, a painter called Moronobu Hishikawa, depicted the lifestyles, manners and customs the citizens of that age, which was developedinto wood-block printing by a single woodblock with one black color, andwhich acquired increasing popularity among the citizens year by year.

Harunobu Suzuki, who established the multi-color printing technologyof Ukiyo-e wood-block printing, dominated the minds of people, and "Nishiki-e"developed tremendously. Woodblocks used for "Nishiki-e" weremade of hard cherry wood with a fine grain, and comparatively thick papercalled "Hosho-washi" was selected for printing. The combinationof skillful artisans' techniques with those selected materials enabledJapan to create the unique muti-color woodblock printing. The manufacturingprocesses were divided into three different working categories by painters,blockcarvers, and printers. This woodblock printing technology was utilizedin the printing of leaflets, handouts, posters, and so on, as the mediaof mass communication.

Among the Ukiyo-e painters, the names of Utamaro, Hokusai, Sharaku,Hiroshige are well known. In modern era, Ukiyo-e artists Kiyochika andHasui appeared, and in the Showa era, Hiroshi Yoshida is famous for hisinternational art activities in Ukiyo-e.

"Nishiki-e" may be called the origin of multi-color printing,with regard to its quality and number, without parallel in the world. "Nishiki-e"is the flower of the culture of townsmen, which was born in Edo era.

Perusing the history of the printing of the world, we find the pursuitof the theory of color and its application were repeatedly attempted bymany scientists and scholars, including Newton, beginning around the earlypart of the 18th century. This contributed to the foundation of the moderncolor printing technology using three basic colors. However, this technologywas only first put into practice around the latter part of the 19th century.

We would like to invite you to join us in a trip seeking the originof multi-color printing. We will encounter many findings and unknown factsalong the way.

We would very much appreciate hearing from you about your opinion andimpressions while you travel through the history of multi-color printingof the world.