Hokusai’s woodcut began as the optimus prime of his thirty-six piece series of woodcuts: Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. His piece began as a simple drawing that was attached to a slate of cherry wood which was then carved away until the initial drawing was left in the block. This was done several times, once for each color and then for the line work. The woodblocks where inked, pressed against the printing paper individually, and then the back of the paper was rubbed with a tool called a baren to impress the inks to the paper. This tool was used so the printer could give variations on the tone of the inks for a more interesting texture in the print. These woodblock lithographs could support hundreds and sometimes even thousands of prints.
