An engraver is a craftsman who creates Ukiyo-e woodblock prints and has the skill to produce woodblocks with the characteristic colors and textures of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

Since letterpress printing is used in woodblock prints, only the areas where pigment is to be applied are left to be engraved. For this purpose, incisions are made on both sides of the outline line with a small knife, and the unnecessary portions are carved out with a chisel. Fine details such as hair splitting and hair carving are generally left to the carver, not the painter.

Engraving techniques are used to produce prints that meet strict quality standards, which are drawn by the painter's technique and only outline lines that have been censored by the publisher.

The painter designates the colors on the ink rubbings and returns them to the engraver. The engraver carves the color plates and separates the woodblocks by color, sometimes including multiple colors on a single sheet for a small area of color. When all the color plates are completed, the printer finishes them.

A surishi is a printmaker who prints multicolor prints on paper using advanced printing techniques and appropriately selected color materials to create nishiki-e.

In omohan (main block printing), the ink or colorant is soaked into the woodblock from which the outline lines were dug by the engraver using a brush, and a suitably dampened sheet of paper is placed on top of the ink or colorant. The paper is stabilized with a marker and printed out using a strong horsehair.

The paper is then hardened with lacquer, and the core is then covered with a "tohide fukawa," which contains the core, and a bamboo skin wrapper is used by the printer to wrap the paper.

After that, multicolor printing is done using colored woodblocks. The number of woodblocks needed is equal to the number of colors, and a color with a small area may be used with another color plate. Printing is done in a horse chain so as not to shift the printing block. There are "ku-zuri" (unevenness printing) to make the best use of the base color, and "bokashi" (blurring), in which the woodblocks are moistened before printing color materials on them to make them blur together.

Here, the production process of folding fans is shown in an easy-to-understand video, using Edo folding fans as an example.

1. production of the main bone

2. production of the base of the fan

3. production of the fan surface

4. folding

5. finishing work

All production processes require a high level of skill and experience.

Feature PageHow a folding fan is madeis here