A preliminary drawing used to guide an ukiyo-e woodblock design is called shita-e.
Shita-e means “under-drawing” or “preparatory drawing.” In the traditional ukiyo-e production process, the artist created the design and supplied it to the publisher. A block cutter then transferred the essential lines to a block, often by placing the drawing face down on the wood. The printed design was subsequently used to prepare separate blocks for the different colors.
The original drawing was commonly destroyed or heavily altered during carving because it was pasted to the wood and cut through. This is one reason surviving original ukiyo-e preparatory drawings are valuable. They can reveal corrections, alternate poses, and details that are not obvious in the final print.
Shita-e is distinct from kento, the registration marks that align successive color blocks, and baren, the hand tool used to rub paper against an inked block. Those terms describe production equipment or procedures rather than the artist’s preliminary design.