Fifty-four 19th & 20th century Japanese woodcut prints. 'Woodcut' and 'woodblock' are often used interchangeably to describe the same technique. Both refer to a applied to the technique of making a print from a block of wood sawn along the grain and to the print so made. It is the oldest technique for making prints, and its principles are very simple. Definition and history of woodcut from the Oxford Dictionary of Art.

The creation of traditional woodcut prints are based on a delicate division of labor between three craftsmen - an artist, a wood carver and a print maker. The artists puts his heart and soul into every stroke of the brush and the hanshita, a type of template, is then entrusted to the wood carver.

The carver pastes the hanshita onto a wooden block and carves out the wood according to the black ink lines produced by the artist. The artist creates a new hanshita for each color and the wood carver then carves this out on a new block. The completed blocks for each color are then delivered to the printmaker.

The printmaker creates complicated combinations with his pigments and manipulates them at will to produced assorted hues. Each step of the process involves the participation of each artisan, working together, proofing each other’s work until all are satisfied with the final outcome.