Woodblock printing

Also called: Woodblock print · Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Print Culture and the Modern World"

Meaning

Woodblock printing is a hand-printing method where a whole page of text or a picture was carved on a block of wood, the block was inked, and paper was pressed and rubbed on top to copy it. It began in China, where books were printed this way from AD 594. It then spread to Japan and Korea, and much later to Europe. It is the world's earliest print technology, and it was in use for centuries before movable type.

Explanation

Background: why it began in China

• The earliest print technology was hand printing. It grew up in China, Japan and Korea, not in Europe.
• China had both things that printing needs:
• Paper, which was invented in China.

• Carved wooden blocks, on which craftsmen could copy a whole page.

• The state needed many books. China had a huge bureaucracy (a large body of government officers), and officers were chosen through the civil service examinations.

• The imperial state was the biggest producer of printed material.
• It printed exam textbooks in very large numbers.
• From the sixteenth century the number of exam candidates grew, so the number of printed books grew too.

How it worked: main features

• The steps: carve the block, put ink on it, place paper on top, and rub the paper so the ink transfers.
• One side only. Chinese paper was thin and porous, which means it soaked up ink and the ink showed through to the back. So only one side of the sheet could be printed.
• The 'accordion book'. Because of this, each printed sheet was folded down the middle and stitched at the side. The blank sides stayed hidden inside the fold.
• Calligraphy (beautiful handwriting) on wood. Craftsmen copied calligraphy onto the blocks very accurately. So a printed book still looked like a hand-written one.
• Text and pictures together. A block could carry pictures as well as words. Pictures cut this way are called woodcuts.

How it spread and changed over time

• c. AD 768–770 — Japan: Buddhist missionaries from China brought hand printing to Japan.

• Printing there was not only for books. Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards and paper money.

• AD 868 — the Diamond Sutra: the oldest dated printed book. It has six sheets of text with woodcut illustrations.

• Mid-thirteenth century — Korea: the Tripitaka Koreana, the Buddhist scriptures carved on about 80,000 woodblocks, completed in 1251 [2].
• Seventeenth century — China: towns and cities grew, so print was used for more than government work:
• Merchants printed trade information.
• Reading became leisure. People read fiction, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies and romantic plays for pleasure.

• Rich women began to read and to publish. Wives of scholar-officials published their writing, and courtesans wrote about their own lives.

• Late eighteenth century — Japan: in Edo (today's Tokyo), artists made ukiyo woodblock prints, 'pictures of the floating world'. These showed city life, entertainment and women. Kitagawa Utamaro (born 1753) was the leading name [5].

• 1295 — Europe: according to NCERT, the explorer Marco Polo came back to Italy from China and brought the knowledge of woodblock printing with him. Woodblock printing in Europe came before Gutenberg's printing press with movable type.
• Late nineteenth century — decline in China: Western mechanical presses were imported, and Shanghai became the centre of the new print culture. Hand printing did not disappear at once. It slowly gave way to machine printing.

Results

• Print served the state first. It made the exam system and the bureaucracy stronger.
• Later it made a reading public. Merchants, leisure readers and women writers all used it.
• It shaped world art. Utamaro's prints travelled to the West and influenced Manet, Monet and Van Gogh. Museums note that Mary Cassatt was influenced too, and her first print series was inspired by such works [6].
• It led to the next step. Korea went on to print with movable metal type. The Jikji was printed this way in 1377 [3].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: from AD 594 in China to the late nineteenth century, when machine presses replaced it. In Japan, ukiyo-e flourished in the late eighteenth century.
• Places:
• China: imperial state presses; later Shanghai for machine printing.
• Japan: Edo.

• Korea: Haeinsa monastery, under the Goryeo (Koryo) dynasty [2].

• The Diamond Sutra (AD 868):

• It is a Chinese translation of the Sanskrit Vajracchedika-prajnaparamita-sutra, made by Kumarajiva [4].
• A printed line names Wang Jie as the man who had it made, with the date 868 [4].
• Sir M. Aurel Stein found it in 1907 in the Dunhuang Caves. It is now in the British Library [4].

• Its importance: it is the earliest printed book that carries an actual date. Woodblock printing was already older than this [4].

• The start date is approximate. NCERT dates woodblock printing in China from AD 594. One Britannica source says the method was about 150 years old by 868 [4]. So the exact beginning is not certain.

• Tripitaka Koreana:
• NCERT says "about 80,000 woodblocks". UNESCO's record gives the exact figure of 81,258 blocks, completed in 1251 [2].
• It is the only complete Buddhist canon (full set of scriptures) still surviving on the Asian mainland. It is praised for its accuracy and beautiful calligraphy [2].

• Heritage status: it entered the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2007. The Haeinsa Janggyeong Panjeon, the buildings that store the blocks, is a UNESCO World Heritage site [2][3].

• Key people: Kumarajiva and Wang Jie (Diamond Sutra), Aurel Stein (who found it), Kitagawa Utamaro, and alongside him Hokusai and Hiroshige, who defined the ukiyo-e style [5][6].

Don't confuse with

• Movable type (Jikji, 1377): in woodblock printing, one block is carved for a whole page and serves only that page. Movable type uses separate letters that can be put together again for new pages. The Jikji, printed at Heungdeok-sa, Cheongju, is among the oldest surviving books printed with movable metal type [3].
• Gutenberg's printing press: Gutenberg used metal movable type and a mechanical press. Woodblock printing was done by hand with rubbing. It came to Europe (through Marco Polo, 1295) before Gutenberg.
• Tripitaka Koreana vs Jikji: the Tripitaka Koreana is woodblocks (mid-13th century, completed 1251, Memory of the World 2007) [2]. The Jikji is movable metal type (1377, Memory of the World 2001) [3].
• Diamond Sutra vs earliest woodblock printing: the Diamond Sutra (868) is the oldest dated printed book. It is not the beginning of printing, which goes back to AD 594 in China.

Prelims Hooks

• Woodblock printing in China dates from AD 594. Paper was rubbed against inked woodblocks.
• Thin, porous paper meant printing on one side only. This gave the 'accordion book', folded in the middle and stitched at the side.
• Diamond Sutra, AD 868: six sheets with woodcut illustrations. Found at Dunhuang by Aurel Stein (1907), now in the British Library [4].
• Printing reached Japan c. AD 768–770 through Buddhist missionaries from China. Utamaro (b. 1753) made ukiyo prints in Edo.
• Tripitaka Koreana: 81,258 blocks (NCERT: about 80,000), completed 1251, at Haeinsa, Goryeo dynasty [2].
• Chronological order: China woodblocks (594) → Japan (768–770) → Diamond Sutra (868) → Tripitaka Koreana (1251) → Marco Polo brings woodblock knowledge to Italy (1295) → Jikji with metal type (1377).

Mains Points

• Print did not begin in Europe.
• East Asia was printing with woodblocks from AD 594.
• Korea had movable metal type by 1377, decades before Gutenberg [3].

• The idea reached Europe from China (Marco Polo, 1295). This challenges the view that print culture was a purely European gift to the world.

• Who controls print decides what print does.

• In China the imperial state printed the most, so woodblock printing first served the examinations and the bureaucracy.
• When urban merchant society grew in the seventeenth century, print moved to trade news, fiction and leisure reading, and women became readers and authors.

• Compare this with Europe, where commercial publishers drove print from the start. In India too, print later opened space for women's writing and reformist voices.

• Technology and culture flowed both ways.

• Woodblock printing went from China to Japan with Buddhist missionaries.
• Japanese ukiyo-e prints later reshaped European painting (Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, Cassatt) [6].
• Western machine presses came into China through Shanghai. This is a good example for GS-I answers on cultural exchange.

Related concepts

• Diamond Sutra
• Ukiyo-e
• Tripitaka Koreana
• Jikji

Read more

• Print in East Asia: the first printed books