TOEFL Reading Practice Online | Q&A 012

This is an original TOEFL-style academic reading passage with practice comprehension questions, not reproduced from any official test. Aim for about 1.5 minutes per question as a self-practice pace, and see the reading practice hub or more reading practice articles for further sets.

Passage

Woodblock Printing in Edo-Period Japan

[1] During the Edo period (1603–1868), the city that is now Tokyo developed a distinctive urban culture centered on theater districts, seasonal entertainments, and popular fashion. Out of this culture grew a style of printmaking known as ukiyo-e, a term often translated as "pictures of the floating world," referring to the fleeting pleasures of everyday urban life. Rather than depicting religious or aristocratic subjects, these prints most often portrayed kabuki actors, courtesans, and sumo wrestlers, and later, famous travel destinations and landscapes.

[2] Producing a woodblock print required the coordinated work of several specialists rather than a single artist. A designer created the initial image, usually as an ink line drawing on paper. A carver then transferred that drawing onto a block of wood and cut away the surrounding material, leaving raised lines that would hold ink. A separate printer applied ink to the block and pressed paper against it by hand, repeating the process for each additional color using a separate carved block. Overseeing and financing the entire project was a publisher, who commissioned the design, paid the craftsmen, and distributed the finished prints. This division of labor meant that a single print might carry the reputations of several different craftsmen, even though only the designer's name is usually remembered today.

[3] Early ukiyo-e prints were produced in black ink alone, sometimes hand-colored afterward, but a major technical advance in the mid-eighteenth century allowed printers to apply several colors directly through the printing process itself. This method, sometimes called "brocade pictures" for its resemblance to woven textile patterns, depended on a system of registration marks carved into the corner of each block. These marks let the printer align paper precisely against a series of blocks, one for each color, so that the finished print built up a complex, multicolored image without the colors bleeding into one another or drifting out of position.

[4] Because woodblocks could be reused to produce many copies from a single carved design, finished prints were comparatively inexpensive and reached a wide urban audience rather than only wealthy patrons. Series depicting popular actors in famous roles functioned somewhat like modern promotional images, while later series depicting scenic travel routes let city residents who rarely traveled far from home imagine distant landscapes. This mass accessibility distinguished ukiyo-e sharply from the one-of-a-kind painted scrolls and screens commissioned by aristocratic and merchant patrons during the same period.

[5] By the second half of the nineteenth century, ukiyo-e prints had begun circulating outside Japan, where they drew the attention of painters and collectors in Europe who were struck by their flattened perspective, bold outlines, and unconventional cropping. Museums and private collectors around the world continue to hold large collections of these prints, and a small number of workshops in Japan still practice the traditional carving and printing techniques today.

Questions

1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

• (A) The religious symbolism found in Japanese temple paintings
• (B) The life of a single ukiyo-e designer
• (C) The modern revival of Japanese calligraphy
• (D) How ukiyo-e woodblock prints were produced and their place in Edo-period urban culture

2. The word "fleeting" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to

• (A) permanent
• (B) short-lived
• (C) expensive
• (D) religious

3. According to paragraph 1, all of the following were common subjects of ukiyo-e prints EXCEPT

• (A) kabuki actors
• (B) courtesans
• (C) Buddhist monks in meditation
• (D) sumo wrestlers

4. According to paragraph 2, what was the carver's role in producing a woodblock print?

• (A) Cutting away the wood around the design so that raised lines were left to hold ink
• (B) Creating the original ink drawing
• (C) Applying ink and pressing paper against the block
• (D) Financing and distributing the finished prints

5. The word "commissioned" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to

• (A) criticized
• (B) discovered
• (C) copied
• (D) ordered and paid for

6. According to paragraph 2, which of the following is true of the people who made a woodblock print?

• (A) A single craftsman usually completed every stage.
• (B) The publisher had no financial role.
• (C) Several specialists contributed, but usually only the designer's name is remembered today.
• (D) Carvers were paid more than designers.

7. The phrase "These marks" in paragraph 3 refers to

• (A) the colors used in the print
• (B) the registration marks carved into the corner of each block
• (C) the finished prints sold to the public
• (D) the designer's first drawings

8. Why does the author describe the system of registration marks in paragraph 3?

• (A) To explain how multicolored prints kept each color in the right position
• (B) To argue that black-and-white prints were superior
• (C) To describe how paper was manufactured
• (D) To compare Japanese and European printing techniques

9. According to paragraph 5, what happened to ukiyo-e prints in the second half of the nineteenth century?

• (A) Their export was banned.
• (B) They were replaced entirely by photography.
• (C) They lost their popularity within Japan.
• (D) They began circulating outside Japan and attracted the attention of European painters and collectors.

Answers and explanations

1. (D) The passage covers the culture that produced ukiyo-e (paragraph 1), how prints were made (paragraphs 2–3), who bought them (paragraph 4), and their later influence (paragraph 5).
2. (B) "Fleeting" pleasures are short-lived ones.
3. (C) Paragraph 1 lists kabuki actors, courtesans, sumo wrestlers, and later landscapes, and says the prints generally avoided religious subjects.
4. (A) Paragraph 2 says the carver "cut away the surrounding material, leaving raised lines that would hold ink." The other options describe the designer, printer, and publisher.
5. (D) The publisher "commissioned the design": he ordered it and paid for it.
6. (C) Paragraph 2 explains that a print "might carry the reputations of several different craftsmen, even though only the designer's name is usually remembered today."
7. (B) "These marks" points back to the "registration marks carved into the corner of each block" in the previous sentence.
8. (A) The marks let the printer line up the paper with each block "without the colors bleeding into one another or drifting out of position."
9. (D) Paragraph 5 states that the prints began circulating outside Japan and drew the attention of painters and collectors in Europe.