Daily Life Prints (881)
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
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
Shop Girl, Cardin, Paris, Shôwa period, dated 1960
Woodblock print
Black Boy Hope I
2021
Color lithograph on Somerset satin soft white paper
Daikoku and others, from the series A Children's Handbook of String Pictures (Kyokumusubi osana tehon)
Woodblock print
Girl in Kimono
Woodblock print
Family
Woodblock print
Girl with Fan
Woodblock print
"Mother's Love, Shôwa period,"
Woodblock print
Doves and Girl
Woodblock print
Doves and Girl
Woodblock print
Doves and Girl
Woodblock print
Doves and Girl
Woodblock print
Doves and Girl
Woodblock print
Doves and Girl
Woodblock print
Doves and Girl
Woodblock print
Doves and Girl
Woodblock print
child carrying a younger child
Woodblock print
Girl with flowers in hair
Woodblock print
Two Girls, Friends
Woodblock print
Unknown- Child and Daffodil
Woodblock print
Unknown- Child and Daffodil
Woodblock print
Mother and Child
1934
Color on silk, framed
Unknown- Mother and child
Woodblock print
Girls playing Basketball
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
Bijin Carrying Baby
Woodblock print
Girl in Blue Kimono
Woodblock print
Mother and Son
Woodblock print
Portrait of the Stepmother
Woodblock print
Children Playing
Woodblock print
Boy's Day 2
Woodblock print
Young Child
Woodblock print
A Weary Little Mother
1914
Color woodcut
The Daikon and the Baby
1903
Color woodcut
Boy's Day
2017
Kappazuri stencil
Black Boy Hope II
2020
Color Lithograph
Space Boy
2021
Color Lithograph ( Produced in Collaboration with Jungle Press Editions)
Space Boy
2022
Color lithograph
"Act V of Chûshingura and others, from the series A Children's Handbook of String Pictures (Kyokumusubi osana tehon)"
Woodblock print
Space Boy
2021
Lithograph
Space Girl
2022
Color lithograph
"Woman Fighting with Naginata and others, from the series A Children's Handbook of String Pictures (Kyokumusubi osana tehon)"
Woodblock print
"Daikoku and others, from the series A Children's Handbook of String Pictures (Kyokumusubi osana tehon)"
Woodblock print
Girl 122 - A
Woodblock print
Mother and child
Woodblock print
A Girl and Her Swan (Artist's daughter, Ayuko)
Woodblock print
Girl
20th century
Color woodblock print
Peasant Girl on Street
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.
Kaoru Kawano, Hiyoshi Mamoru, and Miyagawa Shuntei 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 881 prints tagged with daily life, spanning ukiyo-e, shin-hanga, and sōsaku-hanga traditions where applicable.