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Paper short abstract

Drawing on two years of fieldwork, this paper examines the social and economic reorganisation of woodblock printmaking in Japan. It maps supply-chain bottlenecks (kōzo, pigments, animal glue), assesses policy responses, and shows how these shifts reshape value and markets in Japan and abroad.

Paper long abstract

Woodblock printmaking was once a core medium of visual communication in Japan, underpinning publishing, education, and popular culture until the late nineteenth century. Following its rapid decline in the early Meiji period, the practice has persisted into the present as a highly specialised form of traditional craft, sustained by a small number of workshops and artisans. Today, however, traditional woodblock printmaking faces acute challenges: an ageing workforce, the erosion of long-term apprenticeship systems, and growing instability in the supply of essential raw materials and tools, including kōzo fibre, pigments, animal glue, and woodblocks. Climate change, shifts in land use, and the restructuring of rural economies have further intensified vulnerabilities within this craft ecosystem.

Drawing on two years of fieldwork in Japan and the UK, this paper examines how traditional woodblock printmaking is being socially and economically reorganised in contemporary Japan. Rather than focusing solely on artisans, it adopts a supply-chain perspective that encompasses raw-material producers, specialist manufacturers, workshops, cultural institutions, and policy frameworks. The analysis identifies key bottlenecks in material procurement and skill transmission, and evaluates how national cultural heritage policies intervene—often unevenly—across different nodes of production.

The paper further contrasts traditional workshop-based woodblock printmaking with contemporary woodblock practices that have emerged in art schools and global printmaking contexts. Differences in materials, techniques, and training models have reshaped not only production processes but also patterns of reception, valuation, and market circulation. While contemporary woodblock making often emphasises artistic autonomy and international visibility, traditional practice remains closely tied to collective labour, tacit knowledge, and material specificity. These distinctions shape how woodblock prints are perceived and consumed within Japan and abroad, and influence which forms of practice are supported by institutions and markets.

By situating woodblock printmaking within broader debates on sustainability, craft–industry relations, and post-industrial cultural economies, this paper contributes to comparative discussions on the future of traditional crafts in industrialised societies, and on the conditions under which craft knowledge, materials, and markets can be meaningfully sustained.