The woodblock format, popular throughout Asia, is an artistic format that is produced by having a large piece of wood cut into and dyed by the artist. Thereafter, this woodblock can be printed onto canvas or paper, making it extremely easy to duplicate the work of art again and again.

Woodblock was characteristic of the Ukiyo-e style, particularly the lack of depth and shadow. Literary text was not characteristic of this period, as it was common in the Heian period (i.e. Tale of Genji).

Ink on parchment could be considered an answer, since many artists did render drafts and sketches on paper with ink; however, the period is known for the woodblock.

Under the Wave off Kanagawa is perhaps the most well-known Japanese woodblock print, from one of the form’s masters, Katsushika Hokusai. Japanese woodblock printing was produced by carefully carving an image onto a fine grained piece of wood, then applying ink to the block of wood and stamping the block onto a piece of paper. This allowed for works of art to be copied onto multiple pieces of paper and distributed quite widely.

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The Burning of the Sanjo Palace is one of the more famous and most representative works of classical Japanese art. This handscroll painting, done about one hundred years after the event it depicts, features swift brushstrokes to emphasize movement, has a strong use of diagonals, and presents largely undifferentiated figures. All of these are classic hallmarks of Japanese handscroll painting from the Kamakura period.

Hokusai was one of many famous ukiyo-e (woodblock print artists) from his era in Japan, the early nineteenth century. Over time, however, Hokusai's focus on grand landscapes and his immaculate skill, well shown in his series of prints of Mount Fuji, have garnered him more respect than most of his contemporaries. The Great Wave Off Kanagawa is the most famous Japanese woodblock print in the West.

Oiran highlights the cultural foment of the early Meiji period. Created to evoke nostalgia for vanishing elements of Japanese culture, the painting's subject matter of a grand courtesan is typical of traditional Ukiyo-e printmaking. It is unique, however, in that it does not represent the courtesan's features in the idealizing manner of ukiyo-e artists, but rather in the more analytical manner of Western portraiture. 

This work, Kanagawa oki nama ura (Under the Wave off Kanagawa) by Katsushika Hokusai, is a classic of the Japanese woodblock printing tradition. Crafted for replication, Hokusai’s work is from a series known as Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, which showed the iconic Japanese mountain from a variety of perspectives and in different conditions. The sharp lines and highly structured formal representation are characteristic of Japanese art in general and the ukiyo-e style in particular.

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The Burning of the Sanjo Palace is one of the more famous and most representative works of classical Japanese art. This handscroll painting, done about one hundred years after the event it depicts, features swift brushstrokes to emphasize movement, has a strong use of diagonals, and presents largely undifferentiated figures. All of these are classic hallmarks of Japanese handscroll painting from the Kamakura period.

Fan Kuan lived in the Song Dynasty. His only remaining work is Travelers by Streams and Mountains. It is ink on a silk hanging scroll that was almost seven feet tall. This work was part of the Northern Song school of monumental landscapes.

This statue is an image of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and renewal, which obviously shows it was created in a predominantly Hindu area. The close attention to Shiva’s traditional iconography, featuring four arms and placing him in the “Lord of Dance” pose known as “Nataraja,” places its creation in a traditionally Hindu area of India. Indeed, the Chola dynasty in southern India was one of the key centers for the worship of Shiva in 10^th century India.

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