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
Get a Geta
9/150, 2005
Woodblock print
Ohara-me
Woodblock print
Picnic
mid 20th century
Woodblock print, ink on paper
Toy Bull
Woodblock print
![Title unknown [four figures and four lanterns] by Sumio Kawakami](https://1.api.artsmia.org/800/135993.jpg)
Title unknown [four figures and four lanterns]
May 23, 1971
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Happy Tabi 3
34/200, 2005
Woodblock print
Unknown, ploughing ricefield
Woodblock print
CH35- Wakana
Woodblock print
December
Woodblock print
European Behavior
1955
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Shirt 3
11/11, 1980
Woodblock print
Back Door
Woodblock print
A Bath
Woodblock print
Fan #17
Mixed media
Tokyo Metro
Photography
5 Floors
Mixed media (thread, paper, and fabric)
Green Skies
Mixed media (thread, paper, acrylic, and fabric)
Fog Scale
Woodcut, water-based ink
Elo
Mokuhanga woodcut on Nishinouchi washi
Kitsune
Mokuhanga woodcut
Morgat
Mokuhanga woodcut
Chushingura
Mokuhanga woodcut with embossing and burnishing
The Potter
Woodblock print
Diary, June 8
Woodblock print
Diary: Aug. 10th '91
Woodblock print
The Thousand Stitches (Sennin-bari)
Woodblock print
Christ Washing Feet of Disciples
1970
Japanee Stencil Dyeing (kappazuri) with hand coloring on handmade paper
Kyosai, Royal Academy, London, FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING
2022
Original Museum Lithographic Exhibition Poster
Beautiful Woman Sewing
1880
Silk
Great lantern at Asakusa Kannondo
1934
Woodblock Print
A Bowlful of Water
2015
Japanese Woodcut
Meng Zong (Moso), from the series "Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety as a Mirror for Children (Nijushiko doji kagami)"
c. 1843
Color woodblock print; oban
Dashun (Taishun), from the series "Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety as a Mirror for Children (Nijushiko doji kagami)"
c. 1843
Color woodblock print; oban
Girl with Umbrella
Contemporary - 1969
Woodblock print
Kabuki Actor with Child, Taishô period, circa 1920-1922
Woodblock print
Maiko Girl
Woodblock print
Boy and Villagers
Woodblock print
Girl and Flower
Woodblock print
Girl Playing Battledore
Woodblock print
Mother and Child
Woodblock print
Portrait of a Boy (Kodomo), Shôwa period, dated 1927
Shôwa period, 1926-1989
Woodblock print
Girl
1927
Woodblock print
Child
1927
Color woodblock print
Portrait of a Boy
1927
Woodblock print
Little Girl
1927
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Dancing Girl, from the series Activities of Women
Woodblock print
(Title unknown) Portrait of a Girl
1916
Woodblock print
"Children's Mind"
Woodblock print
![Face (Child) [Kao (Kodomo)] by Kinoshita Tomio](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/48d9848d-173b-ed85-c977-09b387591108/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
Face (Child) [Kao (Kodomo)]
1962
Color woodblock print; edition 20/50
Young Girl (Wakai Onna)
Woodblock print
"Children's Mind"
Woodblock print
"Children's Mind"
Woodblock print
"Children's Mind"
Woodblock print
![Title unknown [Mother and child] by Nagase Yoshio](https://1.api.artsmia.org/800/135543.jpg)
Title unknown [Mother and child]
mid 20th century
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
![Title unknown [Woman and child] by Nagase Yoshio](https://1.api.artsmia.org/800/135555.jpg)
Title unknown [Woman and child]
mid 20th century
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Child carrying a younger child 2
Woodblock print
Woman Holding a Baby
Woodblock print
Farm girl
Woodblock print
"Children's Mind"
Woodblock print
"Children's Mind"
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.