Ukiyoe
Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print style applied to traditional tarot arcana.
by Koji Furuta · 1980
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The record
Note: Although it is usually written Ukiyo-e, I will use Ukiyoe as Kaplan does for consistency. In 1980 Stuart Kaplan commissioned Japanese artist Koji Furuta to design a Tarot deck in the Ukiyoe style. The resulting Ukiyoe Tarot was one of the more beautiful but underrated decks published by U.S. Games. The Ukiyoe Tarot was a lucky find for me. Although I do like Ukiyoe art, I wasnt actively seeking this deck and only purchased it because the price was so low. It has since become on of my favorite decks. Ukiyo (the floating world) became a popular subject for Japanese writers and artists during the Edo period (1603-1867), a time when the shogunate kept the country all but cut off from the rest of the world. Consequently, the art from this period is uniquely Japanese. Although most sources translate Ukiyoe as pictures of the floating world, I believe Kaplans translation of this wretched world is also appropriate. The Ukiyo genre reflects the Buddhist ideas of the transience and impermanence of the physical world we live in, but whether that is wretched or just floating is, I suppose, all in your perspective. Many Ukiyoe paintings and woodblock prints depict people in everyd
The cards
