fūtō-e 封筒絵

Also shokanbukuro-e 書簡袋絵. The woodblock-printed pictures on folded paper covers which functioned as envelopes, fūtō 封筒, for letters. Such envelopes were first employed in the 1760s-70s. Colored printing was not used until the very end of the 18th century, and it was not until the early decades of the 19th century that envelopes with pictorial designs by *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists were sold. Because envelopes were used and discarded, few remain today, but some have been collected and published in a single volume, buntōchō 文筒帖, which includes examples designed by Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1864), Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (also known as Andō 安藤 Hiroshige, 1779-1858), and Utagawa Kunisada 歌川国貞 (1786-1865) among others.