toyama hanga 富山版画

Prints originally designed in the first half of the 19th century by provincial artists and distributed by itinerant peddlers who sold medicines and other products in the Toyama 富山 area (Etchū 越中, now Toyama Prefecture). Became a general term for prints used to sell products in the provinces. Many designs were modeled on Edo actor prints. They were given away as advertisements or gifts, and were therefore made cheaply on inexpensive paper of various sizes and shapes.