Eriko Fujita

Eriko Fujita is a Japanese mokuhanga artist who works within the living tradition of water-based woodblock printing in its country of origin. Her participation in the International Mokuhanga Conference exhibitions connects her domestic practice with the global community of mokuhanga practitioners who have adopted the technique across dozens of countries.

Fujita has exhibited at multiple International Mokuhanga Conferences, including the 2021 IMC in Nara and the 2024 IMC in Echizen, where her work appeared in the Asia regional exhibition. This sustained participation across conference cycles demonstrates ongoing commitment to the international community and a desire to place her work in dialogue with mokuhanga practitioners from around the world.

For Japanese artists like Fujita, the international mokuhanga community presents a unique phenomenon: a global movement centered on a technique that is part of their own cultural heritage. While mokuhanga in Japan has a history extending back centuries, from the religious printing of Buddhist texts to the commercial publishing of ukiyo-e and beyond, the contemporary international mokuhanga movement has given the technique renewed visibility and vitality within Japan itself. The enthusiasm of international practitioners has helped draw attention to mokuhanga as a living art form rather than merely a historical artifact, encouraging younger Japanese artists to engage with a medium they might otherwise have viewed as outdated.

The 2021 Nara conference was held in one of Japan's ancient capitals, a city whose Buddhist temples were among the first sites of woodblock printing in Japan over a thousand years ago. The 2024 Echizen conference took place in a region celebrated for its washi papermaking heritage. Both locations connected contemporary practice with the deep historical roots of Japanese printing culture.

Fujita's work in mokuhanga engages with the full vocabulary of the traditional technique: the carving of woodblocks, the preparation of water-based pigments with sumi ink and mineral colors, the use of nori rice paste as a binder, the dampening and registration of washi paper, and the application of pressure through the baren. As a Japanese practitioner, she works within a context where these materials and methods are not imports or adaptations but part of a continuous cultural tradition, even as that tradition continues to evolve through contemporary creative practice.

The international mokuhanga movement has had a reciprocal effect on mokuhanga practice within Japan itself. The enthusiasm of foreign practitioners has helped revitalize interest in a technique that some in Japan had come to view as historical rather than contemporary. The IMC conferences, held in different Japanese cities, have drawn attention to mokuhanga as a living art form and have encouraged younger Japanese artists to explore the medium. Fujita's participation in these international forums contributes to this revitalization, demonstrating that Japanese mokuhanga practitioners continue to find creative vitality in a technique with centuries of history behind it.