Which artist designed the earliest known ukiyo-e woodblock print, commonly dated to the 1670s?

Hishikawa Moronobu designed the earliest known ukiyo-e woodblock prints, commonly dated to the 1670s.

Moronobu worked in the formative period of ukiyo-e, when printed images were developing from illustrated books and monochrome commercial sheets. He is often regarded as the first major ukiyo-e artist because he established recognizable compositions of urban life, entertainers, and beautiful women. His works were generally printed in black ink, sometimes with hand-applied color, rather than using the later multiblock color process.

The date is necessarily approximate because early prints are not always securely dated and the transition into ukiyo-e was gradual. Moronobu should therefore be distinguished from Suzuki Harunobu, who later helped popularize full-color nishiki-e prints in the 1760s. Moronobu’s importance lies in defining the early visual language and commercial audience of ukiyo-e, not in perfecting the later color-print technology.