This straightforwardly written and highly informative book is designed to serve as an introduction to Japanese prints for the student and the beginning collector. It is both a history and a guide. While the paintings and illustrated books of the printmakers are mentioned only in passing, the account of the Japanese print is not limited to the history of ukiyo-e but includes a discussion of the Buddhist prints of the medieval period and the prints of the modern age starting with the Meiji era and coming up to the present. Thus not only masters as Harunobu, Kiyonaga, Utamaro, Sharaku, Hokusai and Hiroshige are presented, but also such modern luminaries as Onchi, Hiratsuka and Munakata. -- Provided by publisher.