Strict feudal rule and a rising middle class characterizes this period.
1615–1868 C.E.
Beginner's Guide
What is the Edo Period?
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Samurai Armor (Gusoku) with a Two-Piece Cuirass and Black Lacing
Edo-period samurai armor was made not only to protect the body, but to symbolically represent the wearer and their family.
Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms
Combining metallic curls with mottled color, Kōrin’s screens capture the pulsing vitality of early spring.
Hon’ami Kōetsu, Folding Screen mounted with poems
Two folding screens from Edo Japan show a lavish golden garden and 36 poem cards by the famous calligrapher Hon'ami Kōetsu.
Kabuki actor prints
Kabuki theatre's leading actors influenced fashion and taste and quickly became the subject of popular woodblock prints in Japan
Edo period, an introduction
The Edo period saw an intensified circulation of visual vocabulary and aesthetic principles between mediums (paintings, ceramics, lacquerware, and textiles often shared the similar motifs) and crossing different registers of culture from design to popular culture to nostalgia for a romanticized pre-modern past.
Hokusai’s printed illustrated Books
Hokusai’s picture books captivated audiences in Japan in the nineteenth century, and later in Europe and America as well.
A portrait of St. Francis Xavier and Christianity in Japan
A portrait that celebrated Francis Xavier, the “Apostle of Japan” whose mission had inaugurated the Japanese Catholic Church.
Beyond the Great Wave — Hokusai at 90
A fisherman and a woodcutter — at age 90, the great Japanese artist Hokusai painted these moving images of contentment.
Utagawa Kunisada I, Visiting Komachi, from the series Modern Beauties as the Seven Komachi
In this example of ukiyo-e, the artist represents a modern woman in the guise of Komachi, a legendary poetess.
Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave)
Perhaps the most iconic image in Japanese art, this woodblock print inspired many Western artists—including Monet.
