One of the ways in which Japanese artists sought world relevance was by re-inventing tradition. Calligraphy and printmaking, with their obvious roots in the past and links to postwar trends such as abstract painting and mass culture, were sites of creative ferment. Both clearly tied to Japanese tradition, avant-garde calligraphy and printmaking were highly successful in an international context.
 
           The Bokujin-Kai society or “Human Ink Society,” formed in 1952 by Shiryu Morita, experimented with abstraction in calligraphy, but believed that works of calligraphy had to remain tied to language. Artists such as Jiro Yoshihara, however, advocated an art of unlimited artistic expression and dismissed the restrictions of Japanese characters. Whatever form it took, calligraphic abstraction was an internationally acclaimed aspect of abstract art in Japan from the 1950s onward,

            Similarly, Japanese printmaking enjoyed spectacular international success during the 1950s and 1960s. While modern Japanese printmakers wished to distance themselves from the tradition of ukiyo-e woodblock prints, international viewers nonetheless attributed their accomplishments to this heritage. In fact, the artists’ perceived claim to this tradition granted them freedom to create as cutting-edge cosmopolitans. Their modernist prints were praised by critics as “a genuine blending of East and West”.

           Signal works in calligraphy: Shiryu Morita’s So (Deep and Abundant), Sumi on Chinese paper (1959); Toko Shinoda’s Unseen form, Sumi on Chinese paper (1961); Ayako Takae Murao’s Work 73, oil on canvas (1965); and Waichi Tsutaka The Present, oil on canvas (1958).  

           Signal works in printmaking: Juichi Saito’s A Forest, etching (1960); Ayake Takae Murao’s Litho #47, lithograph (1961); Masaji Yoshida’s Space No. 29, woodcut (1963); and Norio Azuma’s Image of a City, serigraph (1963).