This is an update not many people will have been expecting just now, what with all the actual printmaking activity going on here these days, but if you saw the blog post on the Mokuhankan Conversations about the auction 'Treasure Box' a couple of weeks ago, you might remember that we found a whole bunch of beautiful woodblock prints tucked into one of the boxes.
What I didn't mention at that time was that the prints were all pasted down onto a stiff - and apparently acidic - paper for mounting in some kind of album. We had to do something about it, and the sooner the better. Printer-trainee Ishikawa-san was game to have a go at saving them, so I gave her a quick run-down on the procedure, and she got to work.
As she was working, I took a series of photos, and have just uploaded them to a new entry in our (very) slowly growing Encyclopedia.
My own property here extends nothing more than a few feet out from all sides of the building, but I do have a huge 'backyard', courtesy of my neighbour Tamura-san across the river.
A few years back, he took a chain saw to a very large cherry tree that I could see from my workshop window, but over at the other end of his property, he has another one:
I'm not exactly sure what genus it is, but it always blossoms much later - up to two weeks later - than all the other cherries in the neighbourhood. And today it hit full bloom:
It's especially pretty when the evening light hits it from behind ...
Collector and friend Serge Astieres sent along a link this morning - to a new web site that he has just completed. It's 'La route du Kisodaido' (I don't think you need a translation ...)
Serge has built a vast website, with history on the famous old road, all kinds of background information, and of course plenty of woodblock print versions of all the stages. A particularly interesting feature of the site is the collection of photos he has dug up which compare each location in various eras - back in Edo time, then when photography came along, and of course in the present day.
Please make a visit to the site; you'll find plenty to keep you busy all day! (You'll need to brush up on your French to be able to understand all his commentary, but the images of course speak for themselves.)
Those of you who have been following the Mokuhankan Conversations blog know that I recently participated in an auction for a box of old tools. The lead-up to the auction - and its aftermath - are the content of my newest video, which features some 'Candid Camera' of two of our printer trainees as they discover the treasures we obtained ...
The Stars of the Show were young Ayumi Miyashita and Yoko Ishikawa, both doing excellent work here at our printing benches, and - as you heard - both very excited about our new tools!
