Benizuri-e

Benizuri-e (紅刷絵, lit. "crimson printed pictures") are a type of “primitive” ukiyo-e style Japanese woodblock prints. They were usually printed in pink (beni) and green, occasionally with the addition of another color, either printed or added by hand. The production of benizuri-e reached its peak in the early 1740s. Torii Kiyohiro, Torii Kiyomitsu I, Torii Kiyonobu I, Okumura Masanobu, Nishimura Shigenaga, and Ishikawa Toyonobu are the artists most closely associated with benizuri-e.

Gallery of benizuri-e

• Woodblock print by Ishikawa Toyonobu of kabuki actors Onoe Kikugoro I and Nakamura Kiyosaburo.jpg

  Woodblock print by Ishikawa Toyonobu of kabuki actors Onoe Kikugoro I and Nakamura Kiyosaburo as a young seated couple playing a samisen signed 'Meijōdō Ishikawa Shūha Toyonobu zu', 1750-1758

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  Woodblock print by Ishikawa Toyonobu of kabuki actors Nakamura Shichisaburō II and Sanogawa Ichimatsu, signed 'Meijōdō Ishikawa Shūha Toyonobu zu', 1740s

• Kiyomitsu I- Ichikawa Ebizô II as Yanone Gorô in 'Koizome Sumidagawa', HAA.jpg

  Actor Ichikawa Ebizō II as Yanone Gorō in the kabuki play Koizome Sumidagawa, woodblock print by Torii Kiyomitsu I, Honolulu Museum of Art

• Sei Shonagon - Tsukioka Settei.png

  18th century Benizuri-e of Sei Shōnagon, author of The Pillow Book, attributed to Tsukioka Settei

References

• Lane, Richard. (1978). Images from the Floating World, The Japanese Print. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192114471; OCLC 5246796
• Newland, Amy Reigle. (2005). Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints. Amsterdam: Hotei. ISBN 9789074822657; OCLC 61666175
• Roberts, Laurance P., A Dictionary of Japanese Artists, Tokyo, Weatherhill, 1976, 218.