Daily Life Prints (716)
Daily life scenes (fuzoku-ga) document the ordinary activities, occupations, and domestic routines of Japanese people across centuries. This genre transforms mundane subjects — cooking, farming, fishing, bathing, shopping, child-rearing — into compositions that reveal both the aesthetic sensibilities of their makers and the social realities of their era. The ukiyo-e tradition's depiction of daily life centered on the entertainment districts and merchant culture of Edo, with artists documenting the routines and pleasures of townspeople. Utamaro's domestic scenes of women at their toilette or caring for children showed intimate moments with unprecedented tenderness. Hokusai's "Manga" (1814-1878) sketched daily life across all social classes with encyclopedic range, from artisans at their workbenches to children at play. Shin-hanga and sosaku-hanga artists of the twentieth century brought new perspectives to daily life subjects. While shin-hanga tended toward idealized depictions of traditional activities — tea ceremony, ikebana, kimono dressing — sosaku-hanga artists engaged more directly with contemporary life, depicting factory workers, city commuters, and modern domestic settings. These prints serve as invaluable social documents, preserving customs, costumes, and environments that rapid modernization has transformed beyond recognition.
Artists Known for Daily Life
Unknown, Young Girl In Kimono- Camellia
Woodblock print
#13, Oniwaka Maru (Benkei as a boy) Fighting with the Monks at the Shoshazan
Woodblock print
Min Ziqian (Binshiken), from the series "Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety as a Mirror for Children (Nijushiko doji kagami)"
c. 1842
Woodblock print; oban, keyblock proof impression
Image No.6 Motherhood (1)
Woodblock print
"A Girl and Her Swan (Artist's daughter, Ayuko)"
Woodblock print
Girl Pouring Tea
Woodblock print
M-25 Late Autumn in a village- peasant girl
Woodblock print
"Children's Mind"
Woodblock print
AI Girl
Digital print
Children's Parade
Woodblock print
Child God
Woodblock print
Girl in Cotton Dress
1942
Woodblock print
Girl with Calico-Patterned Background
1948
Woodblock print
Portrait of a Girl with Accompanying Poem
1984
Woodblock print
Profile of Young Girl in Kimono
1957
Woodblock print
Girl in the Wind
Woodblock print
TWO WOMEN AND A YOUNG BOY HOLDING A PRINT (PORTRAIT OF A MAN)
Woodblock print
Woman and Girl with Toy, Meiji period, circa 1890s
Woodblock print
Mother with Children
Woodblock print
Family L
Woodblock print
Children's Day, child with samurai helmet
Woodblock print
Captain Higuchi, in the Midst of the Attack, Personally Holds a Lost Chinese Child (Higuchi taii shingeki no toji mizukara Seishi no ishi o hôji suru no zu)
Woodblock print
A Girl In Nikko
Woodblock print
Baby Talk
Woodblock print
Mother and Child
1901
Color woodcut on paper
Girl by the Window
1947
Color woodblock print
Tenpôzan in Osaka: Viewing Children's Sumo (Naniwa Tenpôzan kodomo sumô shôran), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô
Woodblock print
A Ball, from the series "Twelve Subjects of Children" (Komodo junidai, temari)
February 1931
Color woodblock print
Girl on the Verandah
Woodblock print
Child with flowers and butterflies
Woodblock print
Doves and Girl- LE
Woodblock print
Mothers Love- Mother and Child
Woodblock print
Nagasaki Doll (with baby on her back)
1959
Color woodblock print
Child and Dove
Woodblock print
Tenpōzan in Osaka: Viewing Children's Sumo (Naniwa Tenpōzan kodomo sumō shōran)
1863
Praying girl
Woodblock print
Woman Fighting with Naginata and others, from the series A Children's Handbook of String Pictures (Kyokumusubi osana tehon)
Woodblock print
Girl and cactus
Woodblock print
Girl with butterflies and flowers
Woodblock print
Girl and woodpeckers
Woodblock print
Girl in green kimono
Woodblock print
Girl with red scarf
Woodblock print
Girls (descriptive title)
Woodblock print
Mitate No.28 - Sleeping baby (Akanbou)
2000
Child with Flowers
Woodblock print
Girl and Flowers
Woodblock print
Girl and Sunflowers
Woodblock print
A Girl's Growth to Adulthood
2010
Oil and gold on wooden panel
Ushiwakamaru, Son of Distinguished Family and Later Iyo-no-kami Minamoto Yoshitsune and Saitō Musashibō Benkei
October 1878
Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Act V of Chûshingura and others, from the series A Children's Handbook of String Pictures (Kyokumusubi osana tehon)
Woodblock print
Portrait of a Boy, Shôwa period, circa 1961(?)
Woodblock print
Profile of Young Girl in Kimono, Shôwa period, dated 1957
Woodblock print
Sculpture of a Boy, Shôwa period,
Woodblock print
Child carrying a younger child 2
Woodblock print
Girl (C)
Woodblock print
Girl (Hydrangea)
1948
Color woodblock print
Girl in Autumn
Woodblock print
Girl in Grey
Woodblock print
Girl Smelling Flowers
Woodblock print
"Tenpôzan in Osaka: Viewing Children's Sumo (Naniwa Tenpôzan kodomo sumô shôran), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô"
Woodblock print
Related Subjects
Frequently Asked Questions
Daily life scenes (fuzoku-ga) document the ordinary activities, occupations, and domestic routines of Japanese people across centuries. This genre transforms mundane subjects — cooking, farming, fishing, bathing, shopping, child-rearing — into compositions that reveal both the aesthetic sensibilities of their makers and the social realities of their era.
Miyagawa Shuntei, Kaoru Kawano, and Hiyoshi Mamoru are among the artists most associated with daily life in our collection. Browse the full list of artists who explored this subject above.
Hanga currently catalogues 716 prints tagged with daily life, spanning ukiyo-e, shin-hanga, and sōsaku-hanga traditions where applicable.