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JAPANESE WOOD ENGRAVINGS
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are first incised—very lightly in the more delicate parts— with a kind of knife, and the interspaces between the lines of the drawing are excavated by means of chisels and gouges of various shapes. The block is then washed and is ready for use. The printer applies the ink very

Fig. 32.—From an engraving after Sensai Yeitaku.

carefully with a brush, and the impressions are taken upon specially prepared paper by rubbing with a flat disc (baren) worked by hand pressure. Certain gradations of tone, and even polychromatic effects may be produced from a single block, and uninked blocks are often