Bokashi (printing)

The best-known examples of bokashi are in the 19th-century ukiyo-e works of Hokusai and Hiroshige, in which the fading of Prussian blue dyes in skies and water create an illusion of depth.

[1] In later works by Hiroshige, for example the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, most prints originally featured bokashi such as red-to-yellow-to-blue color sunrises.

[4] In futa-iro bokashi (二色ぼかし) two colours are worked toward each other, achieved by applying two inks to opposite edges of the brush.

[2] In hakkake bokashi a flat colour is printed, and then the same printing block is washed and re-brushed with a bokashi effect to overprint over the first; this technique is seen on the dark peak of Mount Fuji in Hokusai's Fine Wind, Clear Morning.

Atenashi bokashi is similar, requiring the wetting of areas to be inked, and is used for details such as clouds.

In this print by Hiroshige , bokashi is used in the foreground, at the horizon, in the sky, on the priest's robes, and in the square cartouche
The blue skyline at the top is typical ichimonji bokashi . The darkened peak is an example of hakkake bokashi .
Fine Wind, Clear Morning , Hokusai , c. 1830
Close-up of Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa showing itabokashi shading technique