Woodblock printing in Japan (,
moku-hanga) is a technique best known for its use in the
ukiyo-e artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period.
Woodblock printing had been used in China for centuries to print books, long before the advent of
movable type, but was widely adopted in Japan during the
Edo period (1603-1868). Although similar to
woodcut in Western
printmaking in some regards, the moku-hanga technique differs in that it uses water-based inks—as opposed to western woodcut, which often uses oil-based inks. The Japanese water-based inks provide a wide range of vivid colors,
glazes, and transparency.