Mention some of the most essential aspects of Japanese print culture. Answer I Buddhist missionaries introduced: Around the years 768–770, Buddhist monks from China introduced handprinting technique to Japan. The images were used for prayer books and instructional texts. They are considered the origin of ukiyo-e. Other answers: In 794, a Chinese priest named Yuan Chonghuan arrived in Japan with hundreds of religious prints called chuban. They were an important influence on the development of Japanese woodblock printing. Yuan also brought with him a new style of painting that combined Chinese aesthetics with Indian techniques; this became known as yamato-e. It is from this term that Japan gets its name (meaning "the country of Yamato"). In addition, Japanese artists started to travel to China to learn about printmaking techniques such as etching and lithography. This led them to develop many original styles of their own. Prints played an important role in the Edo period (1603–1867), when Japan's urban population increased dramatically. Print shops flourished and many new genres of print were created for sale to readers. One example is the manga print, which combines pictures and text in a serial format.