Ukiyo-e woodblock printmaking with Keizaburo Matsuzaki

Master printer Keizaburo Matsuzaki visited the Art Gallery of New South Wales in March 2010 in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Hymn to beauty: the art of Utamaro’. He brought the woodblocks to create a print of ‘Takashima Ohisa, the teahouse waitress’, designed by Kitagawa Utamaro (1754–1806) in the 1790s. Matsuzaki hails from Arakawa-ku in Tokyo and has been a printer since he was fifteen years old.

Gallery visitors were amazed to witness Matsuzaki's deft touch as he applied 17 colours with perfect alignment. Each colour was rubbed with the printer's most precious tool, the baren. The final touch was a dusting of mica.

Music: Akikaze no Kyoku by Kazue Siwai

Filmed on Gadigal Country

0:00 - Intro
0:34 - First layer
1:33 - Second layer
2:09 - Third and fourth layers
3:13 - Sixth layer
3:48 - Seventh layer
4:29 - Eighth layer
5:13 - Ninth layer
5:51 - Background layer
6:52 - Mica dusting
7:28 - Inscription layer
8:15 - Final reveal