Aizuri-e is the Japanese term for ukiyo-e prints dominated by a single color, especially blue.
The word combines ai, meaning indigo or blue dye, with -zuri-e, meaning a printed picture. In nineteenth-century Japan, the term became strongly associated with prints using imported Prussian blue, a vivid and relatively durable pigment that transformed the appearance of landscape compositions.
Aizuri-e could use more than one blue tone, along with black, gray, or limited additional colors. It therefore does not simply mean that every mark on a sheet was blue. Some examples are monochrome, while others are primarily blue with carefully restrained accents.
Aizuri-e is often confused with nishiki-e, the full-color “brocade picture” technique. Nishiki-e uses multiple color blocks, whereas aizuri-e identifies a dominant color scheme. Hokusai’s landscape prints helped make blue-centered designs internationally famous.