Embossing Prints (30)
Embossing (karazuri) technique in Japanese woodblock prints, where uninked blocks are pressed into dampened paper to create raised, three-dimensional textures. Used to render snow, feathers, wave crests, and fabric patterns, embossing adds tactile richness to printed images.
Artists Known for Embossing
Demon in Disguise as an Old Woman Fleeing with a Severed Arm (Rōba kiwan o mochisaru zu), from the series New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts (Shinkei sanjūroku kaisen)
1889
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink, color and gauffrage on paper

Ichikawa Danjūrō IX as Musashibō Benkei in The Subscription List (Kanjinchō)
Meiji period, datable to 1890
Center panel from a woodblock print (nishiki-e) triptych; ink, color, gauffrage, and metallic pigment on paper
Taira no Kiyomori Holding Back the Sun, from the series Mirror of Famous Generals of Japan (Dai Nippon meishō kagami)
Meiji period, circa 1878-1882
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink, color and gauffrage ("blind" printing) on paper

Untitled (inuzuka-taisui)
Woodblock print

Frosty Morn
1962
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper with embossing

Sign (Kizashi) (artist’s proof)
1970
Color woodblock print with embossing

Chorus
1967
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper with embossing

Color-ring (Fragment) D
1968
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

Fabrication (Inclusion)
1966
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

Join
June 1962
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

From Gauge (Return)
1969
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

Moral (Endurance)
1963
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

Inside and Outside (Round) A
1968
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper with embossing

Low Tide at Susaki - A Set of Five (Shiohi goban no uchi)
c. 1828-30
Color woodblock prints; shikishiban pentaptych, surimono

Ensei
c. 1828–30
Woodblock print (surimono), ink and color on paper

Memorial Portraits of Iwai Hanshirō VI and Bandō Mitsugorō III
after 1836
Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper

Horiagete
1954
Woodblock print

Cell - 4
1966
Woodblock print, color on embossed paper

65 - 7
1965
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

63 - B
1963
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

May - 2
early 1960s
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

Objet No. 2
1954
Woodblock and object print

Work - Mu-2
1961
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

Which One Is Reflected?
どちらが映る?
2025
Woodcut with embossing

Poem - 12
1966
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

Poem 70 - 28 (Word)
1970
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

Poem 72 - 51 (Cooling Fan)
1972
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

Poem - 11
1971
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

Work 74-57 (Sun-B)
c. 1974
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper

Bendbo
1963
Woodblock print, ink and color on embossed paper
Related Subjects
Frequently Asked Questions
Embossing (karazuri) technique in Japanese woodblock prints, where uninked blocks are pressed into dampened paper to create raised, three-dimensional textures. Used to render snow, feathers, wave crests, and fabric patterns, embossing adds tactile richness to printed images.
Maki Haku, Amano Kazumi, and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi are among the artists most associated with embossing in our collection. Browse the full list of artists who explored this subject above.
Hanga currently catalogues 30 prints tagged with embossing, spanning ukiyo-e, shin-hanga, and sōsaku-hanga traditions where applicable.





