Woodblock printing in Japan (Japanese: 木版画, moku
hanga) is a technique best known for its use in the ukiyo-e
artistic genre; however, it was also used very widely 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 only widely adopted in
Japan surprisingly late, during the Edo period (1603-1867).
