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If woodblock prints were produced in multiple, how can a print be rare? From natural disasters to the damage of use, the woodblock prints that exist today have beat the odds. With this in mind, all existing woodblock prints are rare. Yet, there are certain combinations of artist, printing technique, design, and condition that set certain impressions apart from the rest. We look to the collection for several examples of true rarity.

As a master of the landscape print, Hiroshige captures Edo-period Japan through series such as One Hundred Famous Views of Edo and Famous Views of the 60-Odd Provinces. How have these famous places fared as destinations in the 21st century? Looking to four prints from the exhibition Hiroshige's Landscapes, let's check in.

How many of the traits that traditionally depreciate a print's value actually preserved the work's overall value?

For this closer look, we'll turn our attention to Yoshitoshi's "Moon Above the Sea at Daimotsu Bay" (1886) from the famed series One Hundred Views of the Moon.

While ukiyo-e were printed in a variety of sizes, each format adhered to a standardized sizing system shaped by both technical and social factors. This determination begins with two of the primary materials of woodblock printing: the woodblock and the paper.

Regarded as the last of the great masters of ukiyo-e, Yoshitoshi worked during this era of dramatic cultural and economic transformation. Through his stunning woodblock prints, he made sense of a transitioning world with a familiar medium. His work expresses the pervasive atmosphere of uncertainty that plagued his country and exorcises the demons of social and political upheaval.

From wild passion and forbidden forays to humorous sexual fumbles and head-scratching acrobatics, the erotic genre of shunga, (lit. "spring pictures") celebrates sensual pleasure in every imaginable form.

Shunga, or "spring pictures," capture a vast spectrum of sensual pleasures. From the passionate reunions of great lovers, to the excitement of clandestine affairs, these erotic prints satisfy a wide range of sexual appetites.

When discussing Japanese woodblock prints, there is one question sure to come up: How many prints were made? While a simple question, the answer is complex.

Adapted from the 14th century Chinese classic, Shuihuzhuan (Stories of the Water Margin), the Suikoden resounded with Edo's emergent middle class. While these legendary characters starred on the page and stage, the otokodate brought the rebel warrior to life in the streets.

As literacy soared during the 19th century, Murasaki Shikibu's 11th century classic Tale of Genji enjoyed a renewed popularity. Yet it was not quite Murasaki's shining prince garnering the attention. Instead, the tale got a modern makeover through Ryutei Tanehiko's Nise Murasaki Inaka Genji (A Rustic Genji by a Fraudulent Murasaki).

Hokusai possessed an inherent sense of drama and a flair for public spectacle. Though many of his early works take the delicate, intimate form of surimono (lavish, privately commissioned prints), the following tales reveal the boundless nature of his talents. Whether he painted with a brush, a broom, or rooster talons, Hokusai stunned his audience with his daring.

The series Ink, Banditry and Bushido considers the contentious "champions of the common good." Learn about Edo period firefighters, or hikeshi, today.

In order to curate a stunning collection of Japanese art, one must know how to properly evaluate a print.

From fierce samurai to legendary heroes, musha-e celebrate the Japanese warrior. Translating to "warrior pictures," this genre of ukiyo-e is marked by consistent fluidity between fact and fiction, truth and fable. As they conflate history, legend, literature and theater, these prints offer fantastic renderings of familiar characters from Japanese culture.

Quiet beneath a blanket of snow, Kinryuzan Temple rests at the end of the lane. The townspeople of Asakusa brave the cold, bundled up and huddled beneath umbrellas as they approach the temple.

With their unusually long and narrow dimensions, the hashira-e and kakemono formats created compositional challenges, yet also immense potential in an artist's approach to the image. The format itself was freeing and unique, allowing for compositions that brimmed with the grace and emotion of artfully employed negative space and vertical dynamism.

In Van Gogh's 1887 painting The Bridge in the Rain (after Hiroshige's Ohashi Bridge) we are given a unique look inside the mind of one of the world's great artistic geniuses. By viewing this painting that is both uniquely his and also one of the most outwardly influenced works in his portfolio (he literally copied verbatim, although his own vehement style, from a Hiroshige woodblock print), we are let into the mind of Vincent the artist as well as Vincent the man.