About us

Japanese Prints Plus is an online store specializing in woodblock prints and other art from Japan and the world. The shop is operated by Spark Galleries, a division of Y.K. Spark Productions, a Japanese company located in Tokyo.

Our shop features authentic handmade art from Japan including Japanese woodblock prints, lithographs, engravings, etchings, serigraphs, and paintings. We carry woodblock prints from every era and style including "sosaku hanga" (creative prints) "shin hanga" (20th century ukiyo-e), traditional woodblock prints and modern Japanese art both abstract and subjective. We also sell a carefully curated selection of art from other countries plus vintage and antique advertising posters from Japan. In other words we sell Japanese prints plus prints from other countries and we sell prints plus other art.

Thank you for visiting our store. If you are traveling to Tokyo and would like to see our selection in person please arrange an appointment by contacting us at info@JapanesePrintsPlus.com

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What is a "print" anyway?
Sometimes when people say "prints" they are referring to reproductions, such as a poster depicting an oil painting.

When we say "prints" we mean original paper and ink artworks created through a special transfer process. In other words, we are talking about real art, usually handmade one item at a time.

Unlike drawing or painting, printmaking begins when an artist creates an image on a substrate such as wood, metal or stone. The design is inked, and then the ink is transferred to paper through various methods. For example a carved or scratched surface can be inked and then pressed into paper, or visa-versa with the paper being pressed onto or into an inked surface. Or the inks can be forced through a stencil-like medium using a squeegee-style tool. The art that emerges from the process is known as a print, and each one is unique because the amount of ink and the pressures applied during printing always differ a little.

The most common types of prints are woodblock prints (aka "woodcuts"), lithographs, etchings, engravings, serigraphs and linocuts. If you are keenly interested in the various print-making processes, we recommend that you visit Wikipedia, YouTube, or any of the many specialty Internet sites devoted to prints and printmaking. For links to informative destinations on the World Wide Web, see the "How Prints are Made" listings in the right-hand column of any page.

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Again, thanks for your patronage. We would love to sell you a Japanese woodblock print! (Or any of our other items, be they Japanese prints in other formats, antique advertising, or art from other countries around the world.