Jason Fujiwara : Printmaker - A Visual Diary

Mokuhanga today can be made in so many ways. So many inspirations, so many people creating beautiful pieces from all over the world.

Coming to you from Obihiro, Hokkaido, I have been traveling around Japan for over a month. Coming back to Japan is always an inspiring act and it is already like a second home to me.

What brought me back to Japan this time around was the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference held in Echizen City, Fukui, Japan. Meeting with so many mokuhanga artists, carvers, and printers inspired me and makes me want to be a better artist and to make a better podcast.

On this episode of The Unfinished Print I speak with one of the mokuhanga artists who also attended the 2024 IMC. Jason Fujiwara. Jason lives and works in Tokyo, Japan where he creates his mokuhanga. Jason and I speak together about how he approaches his work, his inspirations, the idea of cultural identity in his prints , his time at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference, and Jason even asks me some questions.

Please follow The Unfinished Print and my own mokuhanga work on Instagram @andrezadoroznyprints or email me at [email protected] 

Notes: may contain a hyperlink. Simply click on the highlighted word or phrase.

Artists works follow after the note if available. Pieces are mokuhanga unless otherwise noted. Dimensions are given if known. Print publishers are given if known.

Jason Fujiwara - website, Instagram

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) - born in Edo, Hiroshige is famous for his landscape series of that burgeoning city. The most famous series being, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1856-1859), and the landcape series, Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1833-1834). His work highlights bokashi, and bright colours. More info about his work can be found, here. 

Ōiso: from the series The Tōkaidō Road - The Fifty-three Stations (1851-52)

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) - is one of the most famous Japanese artists to have ever lived. Hokusai was an illustrator, painter and woodblock print designer. His work can be found on paper, wood, silk, and screen. His woodblock print design for Under The Wave off Kanagawa (ca. 1830-32) is beyond famous. His work, his manga, his woodblocks, his paintings, influence artists from all over the world. 

Poem by Sangi Hitoshi : the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (n.d.)

David Bull - is a Canadian woodblock printmaker, and educator who lives and works in Japan. His love of mokuhanga has almost singlehandedly promoted the art form around the world. His company, Mokuhankan, has a brick and mortar store in Asakusa, Tōkyō, and online, here. 

The Forest In Summer: From the Series "My Solitudes." (2007-9)

Ema Shin - Based in Melbourne, Australia, Ema Shin hails from Niigata, Japan. She pursued her education in printmaking at Tama Art University in Tokyo. Currently, her work spans across various me