First of two parts There can be few readers of The Japan Times who have not browsed a secondhand bookshop in Japan, hoping to discover an unrecognized gem of a woodblock print. Although the subjects they depict are far removed from the reality of contemporary Japan, ukiyo-e still charm us today. Western notions of Japanese beauty are still informed by Utamaro's graceful portraits, while the Mount Fuji so eagerly looked for from the windows of the shinkansen is surely a Hokusai image in the mind's eye.

The arrival of Japanese prints in Europe -- perhaps as early as the mid-18th century, and at first as mere wrapping paper -- had a profound effect on the development of Western art. However, although the exquisite calligraphic lines, bold composition and clear areas of flat color in these prints seemed extraordinarily fresh, there was scant knowledge of the process that produced them. Woodblock prints were regarded more as individual works of art than products of a streamlined mass-production system in which four principals and many supporting workers were involved.

The prints we know best -- Utamaro's "Female Facial Types of Ten Classes (Fujo Ninso Juppon)" of 1792-93, for example, first emerged in the context of the vibrant culture of the Edo merchant classes.