David Bull (craftsman)

David Bull (born 11 November 1951) is a Canadian ukiyo-e woodblock printer and carver who heads the Mokuhankan studio in Asakusa, Tokyo. Born in Britain, Bull moved to Canada at the age of 5. He first discovered Japanese woodblocks while working in a music shop in 1980 in Toronto, at 28, and started making his own prints without formal training.

Bull moved to Tokyo in 1986 to learn more about traditional Japanese woodblock printing. In 1989 he embarked on an ambititous ten-year project, recreating 100 images from Katsukawa Shunsho's 1775 Hyakunin isshu poetry book.

He is known for his work on the Ukiyo-e Heroes kickstarter crowd-funding project together with Jed Henry, recreating modern videogame scenes in ukiyo-e style with traditional woodblock techniques. The Mokuhankan studio has a shop and used to offer “print parties” for amateurs, where they could try the craft of printing. During the pandemic his shop temporarily shut down for three years, but is now back open without print parties.