in the past, some art historians theorized that "aizuri-e" arose as a result of an 1841 government ban on the use of lavish colour in the then-dominant "nishiki-e" (錦絵), multi-coloured woodblock prints. the existence of a number of prominent examples predating the ban, however, suggests that "aizuri-e" did not simply come about as an alternative to poly-chromatic images. while the earliest recorded use is in an 1829 print by eisen, utagawa sadahide, hokusai, hiroshige, toyokuni ii and kunisada all produced notable examples.