Kuchi-e (Frontispiece Woodblock Prints)

Kuchi-e were title pages for novels. The pictures always refer to the story. Most important subjects were beautiful women (bijin) acting in romantic stories. Because Kuchi-e were also important advertising media for the books, they were always made carefully and luxuriously - in the old Japanese tradition - as original woodblock prints, often printed with special techniques as relief printing, glossy overprint or even printed with silver. Kuchi-e mainly were used in the time between 1895 and 1915.