Daily Life Prints (666)
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
An Old Man and Attendants Watching the Sugoroku Game
1799
Color woodblock print; surimono
Fishermen
1912
Color woodcut
Tabi 42
36/200, 1995
Woodblock print
Hara Shobō
Woodblock print
surimono (?) / diptych print
Woodblock print
Greengrocery at Nezu (Nezu shojiki yaoya)
Nezu shojiki yaoya
1926
Color woodblock print; oban
Diary: Sep. 28th, '03
2003
Woodcut, silkscreen
Diary: Sept. 11th, '11, in The United States
2011
Woodcut, silkscreen
Print Collection
1922
Gathering Herbs
c. 1796/97
Color woodblock print; long surimono
Waiting for the Tide
1930
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Kagurazaka Dori
1929
Woodblock print
Print process, titled
description
Woodblock print
Diary Jan. 9 1976
description
Woodblock print
Diary: Feb. 2nd, '78
1978
Woodcut, silkscreen
Diary: March 5th, '05 in Kashiwa
2005
Woodblock and silkscreen
Diary: Sep. 16th '01, in Israel
2001
Woodcut, silkscreen
South Wind
南風
1907
Oil on canvas
Stone Mason
石工
c. 1940
Color woodblock print
Diary: March 27th and 28th, '02
2002
Woodcut, silkscreen
Diary: Nov. 25th, '98
1998
Woodcut, silkscreen
Tipsy
1930
Woodblock print
Lumber Yard
1760–1849
color woodblock print
Plaything (Tawamure)
1936
Color woodblock print
Diary: March 12th '11
2011
Woodcut, silkscreen
Diary: February 11th, 1995 (b), Sleeping Man and Newspaper
1995
Woodblock print
White Diary (34/45)
Woodblock print
Silk Dyeing
Woodblock print
Ohara-me
Woodblock print
Diary: Jan. 19th, '98, 1998
description
Woodblock print
Diary: Nov. 8th, '10
2010
Woodcut, silkscreen
Diary: Feb. 23rd '02, in London
2002
Screenprint
Diary: March 5th, '79 (b)
1979
Woodblock and silkscreen
Chinese and Tartar Boys Quarreling over a Game of Go
c. 1790
Woodblock print; oban, keyblock proof impression
Diary: April 24th '97
1997
Screenprint
The Chest Containing Various Teachings (Kyokun zonagamochi)
1784
Woodblock-printed book; 5 vols.
Kites
1912
Color woodcut
Umbrellas
Woodblock print
Diary Nov 12th '75
1975
Woodblock print
Diary: March 31st, '78
1978
Woodblock and silkscreen print
Diary: July 18 '08, in Israel
2008
Woodcut, silkscreen
Diary: Nov. 7th '68 ( #1)
1968
Woodblock and silkscreen prints
Plaything
Woodblock print
Waves of Potential Immigrants from Many Lands (Shikinamigusa)
1796
Color woodblock-printed book; 1 vol.
Two women stretching cloth
c. 1797/98
Color woodblock print; double-page illustration from book
The Homecoming
1905
Color woodcut on Japan paper, impression from key block
![Untitled [musicians performing Owara-bushi] by Amano Kazumi](https://1.api.artsmia.org/800/135476.jpg)
Untitled [musicians performing Owara-bushi]
late 1950s
Woodblock print, ink on paper
Diary: June 24 ’78
June 1978
Screenprint
Diary: July 9th '08, in Istanbul
2008
Woodcut, silkscreen
Corn Husk Doll America
1985
Woodblock print
Picnic party
c. 1801/07
Color woodblock print; surimono
Torn Calendar
1941
Woodblock print
MANZAI DANCERS
Woodblock print
Tattoo
1935
Woodblock print
Circus- LE
Woodblock print
Blindfold Game
Woodblock print
School is Out
Not set
Woodblock print
Furoshiki (Wrapping Cloth)
early Shôwa period (1926–1989), 1926/35
Silk, plain weave; stenciled and resist dyed (yûzenzome: ita-age, suri yûzenzome, otoshizome and shigokizome)
Acrobat
1916
Woodblock print
Fishing for Cormorants at Nagaragawa
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, Hiyoshi Mamoru, and Kaoru Kawano 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 666 prints tagged with daily life, spanning ukiyo-e, shin-hanga, and sōsaku-hanga traditions where applicable.