Japanese publisher Shozaburo Watanabe started his business in the early twentieth century studying the traditions of Japanese woodcuts of artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige and hiring printers who could master the old techniques. To distinguish his prints Watanabe coined the term “shin hanga” or “new prints” and hired designers capable of combining traditional subjects with the new style. Like the prints of the previous century, his were colorful images of Japan’s people and natural beauty. However, Watanabe actively courted the international market with a fresh, western-influenced style so that the prints he published appealed to European and American art-lovers. Combining Japanese techniques and subjects with Western sensibilities, they established a new aesthetic in the print market.