Sadanobu Hasegawa III is the third in a long line of Japanese printmakers. He has a popular, straightforward style that combines ukiyo-e tradition and subjects with a modern appeal that displays high quality work. He was born in Osaka and continued his family tradition while adopting the art of Japanese printmaking to the changing tastes and marketss of the 20th century and changing markets. His favorite were kabuki theater, the bunraku puppet theater, beautiful maiko – young apprentice geishas, genre scenes and events from Japan’s medieval history and legends. His style catered to the foreign market with an emphasis on nostalgia for the Japanese image. Most of his woodblock prints were made after world war II and sold to tourists or to the American occupation forces. One of the oldest publishers in Japanese prints, Uchida publishers in Kyoto commissioned a large number of the designs and distributed them. Although foreigners bought them by the thousands as cheap souvenirs, these woodblock prints were handmade in the old Japanese woodblock tradition. Often some of the lush features like embossing of metal pigments were applied. They show excellent Japanese craftmanship and quality.