This study illuminates new pathways to a greater appreciation of ukiyo-e by addressing the environments and conditions under which the artists worked, together with the factors that determined or conditioned the peculiar stylistic character of ukiyo-e. It also examines the particular forces that governed this distinctive type of picture-making, together with the corresponding development of popular tastes with the audiences of the day, focusing especially on contemporary aesthetic sensibilities, the ways artists learned their craft, and the conditioning qualities of their medium.