Illustrations of Various Professions (Wakoku shoshoku e-zukushi 和国諸職絵尽)
This is a woodblock-printed Japanese picture book from 1685, attributed to Hishikawa Moronobu, a Kyoto-area ukiyo-e artist, showing everyday trades and occupations for a general readership of the Edo period. The pictures show workers such as a woman carrying a tray, a seated craftsman at a low bench, and figures in robes and hats, drawn in fine black outlines with sparse colour. A designer might take from them the economy of line, the layered page layout with calligraphic text panels above each scene, and the compact spacing of figures against plain paper ground.
