I really dig this, but mostly on account of some smoosh of childhood x art appreciation. My mom is half-Japanese and we had Ukiyo-e paintings up on the wall when I was a kid. But also I would get up with my mother and watch her perform her morning rituals. It was the late-80s and I'd watch my mom pull a large toothed resin-based comb through her wild hair (did I mention the other half being Pasifika?). We also had beautiful Japanese cotton based sheets with these outta of this world series of prints on them. All wedding presents I think. So in that sense, this is a very lovely thing to look at. To think about, you know? But from a different perspective, it is nice to think about the artistry that went into carving each fine detail. I haven't done a damn thing with prints in a hundred of years but I believe you have to work with a lot of negative space, but I might be wrong. I'm not sure if these are don with a series of plates, or a singular plate (er...blocks) with careful application of colors. But it's an amazing skill to think about as a whole. Even the paper made, or how the pigments were obtain to create the colors. It's all really amazing when you think about it, and I am very happy that it's still appreciated as a medium.

p.s. - American art history focuses very little on world arts (at least when I was swimming in it) and mostly seemed to focus on European/American movements.