Ukiyoe is a kind of multicolored woodcut print made in Japan in about the 16th century. Those prints now existing have been discolored. The authors tried to print a digital image of Ukiyoe by using Kubelka-Munk theory. First, the image data were obtained by tracing outline of each colored region with a graphic software on the real Ukiyoe image scanned. Those data show the shapes of each plate on multicolored woodcut print. Next, the absorption coefficient and the scattering coefficient, K and S, of some colorants (watercolors, Japanese traditional pigments) were calculated. And then, the spectral reflectance of all the pixels of final digital image was calculated from K and S of paints, thickness of paints layer, roughness of the surface of the paper, and the image data holding shape of each plate. Then the reflectance was transformed into sRGB digital counts, and the digital image was printed with an inkjet printer. It was confirmed that the color with two or more layers, and the textures derived on the paper surface were more realistically reproduced.
Tomotaka Hirokawa, Junko Tanabe, Yoshihiko Azuma, Masao Inui, "Generating Digital Image of Ukiyoe by Applying the Kubelka-Munk Theory" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies (NIP21), 2005, pp 425 - 428, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2005.21.1.art00024_2