The Edo period saw the growth of an urban culture of extraordinary richness, sophistication and cultural diversity, and an unprecendented flowering of the arts, in painting, woodblock prints, ceramics, laquer and textiles. This text offers an overview of the arts of the Edo period as they developed in Kyoto, Edo, Osaka and Nagasaki, illustrated with the work of artists such as Korin, Utamaro and Hokusai, as well as with lesser-known artists of the time. By examining the cultural relationships arising from the movement of artists between cities and between country and city, as well as the growing influence of Chinese and Western art, this book offers an analysis of, and insight into, the artistic developments of this most dynamic period in Japanses history.