Sosaku Hanga (創作版画), or the “creative print” movement in Modern Japanese art, was an expression of individualism that emerged out of traditional Japanese arts and culture. Co-occurring with the more commercialized Shin Hanga ( 新版画) "new prints" movement during the early decades of the 20th century, Sosaku Hanga artists enthusiastically embraced the freedom to express their individual aesthetics in their choices of subject matter, techniques, production methods, and materials . "Fisherman" by Yamamoto Kanae 1904 Image source: Revolvy.com The artists of the Sosaku Hanga movement advocated taking full control over all the aspects in the creation of their prints. Today this may sound like the natural way art is made but historically in Japan prints were made in stages. Each stage of the art was produced by a different group of artist/artisans who had trained for many years in their specialty be it drawing, carving, making ink, pr