Ukiyo-e: Japanese Prints

Meet ukiyo-e by looking, revealing, and making. Discover a reviewed print each day, explore it with Ukiyo Lens, then build an impression color by color.

Step into ukiyo-e, one print at a time.

Ukiyo-e is a quiet, interactive museum for Japanese woodblock prints. Begin with one reviewed work each day, reveal how it works with Ukiyo Lens, and enter the Printer's Workshop to build an impression color by color.

TODAY'S PIECE

Return each day for one source-reviewed print. Short prompts invite you to notice color, line, depth, gesture, weather, and rhythm before titles or explanations shape your response.

Then open the catalogue context: artist names in English and Japanese, dates, medium, dimensions when available, provenance, and a direct source link. Complete the experience to place a seal in your private Seal Book.

UKIYO LENS

Move an interactive lens across selected masterpieces. Compare the visible scene with focused layers for color, line, space, and printing craft. Twenty launch highlights have work-specific profiles rather than generic reveals.

THE PRINTER'S WORKSHOP

Experience multicolor woodblock printing through touch. Brush pigment across the block, control bokashi gradation, align the paper, and rub with a baren. Every pass persists as each block adds color to the final impression.

Three works introduce layered landscape color, controlled gradation, and angle-responsive mica shimmer. Carved blocks, kozo paper, deckled edges, tools, pressure, sound, and haptics make each stage deliberate. This is not a paint filter: every work uses its own reviewed color assets.

CURATED PATHS

Follow nine source-reviewed journeys through artists, motifs, color, weather, performance, travel, and craft. Each path has a beginning, a conclusion, and an earned seal. See how one work changes the way you read the next.

YOUR SEAL BOOK

The Seal Book gathers completed prints and journeys as a private record of attention. Favorites, history, seals, and progress remain on your device.

EXPLORE MORE THAN 140,000 WORKS

Search more than 140,000 source-linked records. Filter by artist, era, category, or favorites; switch views; open detailed records; save favorites; and share works.

The collection spans famous and lesser-known printmakers across many institutions. Records download incrementally, while a selected starter collection ships in the app.

Explore landscapes, actors, beauty prints, warriors, travel, nature, shin-hanga, and modern prints. Search an artist or follow connections across eras, series, and sources.

SOURCE-BOUND, NOT GENERATED

Curatorial text is written for specific reviewed works and remains tied to evidence. Source context is preserved for titles, dates, attributions, and institutional descriptions. Generic text never masquerades as individual research.

BUILT FOR QUIET LOOKING

• A focused daily ritual instead of an endless feed
• Full-screen artwork with close detail viewing
• English and Japanese throughout the app
• Native layouts for both iPhone and iPad
• Favorites, sharing, search, and local progress
• Optional daily reminder and Home Screen widget
• No account required

For art students, museum visitors, collectors, printmakers, and anyone seeking a calmer visual ritual, Ukiyo-e offers a direct way into the work without a quiz or social feed.

FREE TO BEGIN, SIMPLE TO KEEP

Today's complete experience, the collection catalogue, sources, search, favorites, sharing, one workshop work, and one full journey are free.

One optional non-consumable purchase unlocks the remaining Printer's Workshop works and curated journeys, comparison, and HD wallpaper export. There is no subscription. Restore Purchases is always available.

PRIVATE BY DESIGN

Ukiyo-e collects no analytics, history, searches, favorites, interaction data, or identifiers. No account is required. CloudKit only downloads public art data and official curation; Apple processes purchases through StoreKit.

Discover Hokusai, Hiroshige, Kuniyoshi, Utamaro, and thousands of other artists. Open today's print, find one detail that is yours, and make an impression.