Editing Ukiyo-e (section)

===Decline (late 19th century)===

Following the deaths of Hokusai and Hiroshige{{sfn|Michener|1959|p=200}} and the Meiji Restoration of 1868, ukiyo-e suffered a sharp decline in quantity and quality.{{sfnm|1a1=Michener|1y=1959|1p=200|2a1=Kobayashi|2y=1997|2p=95}} The rapid Westernization of the [[Meiji period]] that followed saw woodblock printing turn its services to journalism, and face competition from photography. Practitioners of pure ukiyo-e became more rare, and tastes turned away from a genre seen as a remnant of an obsolescent era.{{sfn|Michener|1959|p=200}} Artists continued to produce occasional notable works, but by the 1890s the tradition was moribund.{{sfnm|1a1=Kobayashi|1y=1997|1p=95|2a1=Faulkner|2a2=Robinson|2y=1999|2pp=22–23|3a1=Kobayashi|3y=1997|3p=95|4a1=Michener|4y=1959|4p=200}}

Synthetic pigments imported from Germany began to replace traditional organic ones in the mid-19th century. Many prints from this era made extensive use of a bright red, and were called {{transliteration|ja|[[aka-e]]}} ('red pictures').{{sfn|Seton|2010|p=71}} Artists such as [[Tsukioka Yoshitoshi|Yoshitoshi]] (1839–1892) led a trend in the 1860s of gruesome scenes of murders and ghosts,{{sfn|Seton|2010|p=69}} monsters and supernatural beings, and legendary Japanese and Chinese heroes. His ''[[One Hundred Aspects of the Moon]]'' (1885–1892) depicts a variety of fantastic and mundane themes with a moon motif.{{sfn|Harris|2011|p=153}} [[Kobayashi Kiyochika|Kiyochika]] (1847–1915) is known for his prints documenting the rapid modernization of Tokyo, such as the introduction of railways, and his depictions of Japan's wars [[First Sino-Japanese War|with China]] and [[Russo-Japanese War|with Russia]].{{sfn|Seton|2010|p=69}} Earlier a painter of the Kanō school, in the 1870s [[Toyohara Chikanobu|Chikanobu]] (1838–1912) turned to prints, particularly of the [[Imperial House of Japan|imperial family]] and scenes of Western influence on Japanese life in the Meiji period.{{sfn|Meech-Pekarik|1986|pp=125–126}}
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<gallery caption="Meiji-era ukiyo-e" mode="packed" heights="210px">
Chikanobu (1887) Mirror of Japanese Nobility (cropped and rotated).jpg|''Mirror of the Japanese Nobility''{{pb}}[[Toyohara Chikanobu|Chikanobu]], 1887
Yoshitoshi tsuki.jpg|From ''[[One Hundred Aspects of the Moon]]''{{pb}}[[Tsukioka Yoshitoshi|Yoshitoshi]], 1891
Kiyochika (1904) Nichiro Jinsenk-o kaisen dai Nihon kaigundaishōri Banzai.jpg|''Russo-Japanese Naval Battle at the Entrance of Incheon: The Great Victory of the Japanese Navy—Banzai!''{{pb}}[[Kobayashi Kiyochika|Kiyochika]], 1904
</gallery>