Written on February 18, 1989 [Permalink]

February 1

Based on Ishii-san's info about strip film, Michiyo and I went to Toyo Bunko and placed an order for some colour slides, with the idea of having them made into strip negatives for carving. We met with the representatives of the company who had shot the faulty bromides, and received their promise that the next job would be done properly. This was Michiyo's first chance to see the Shunsho book itself.

February 3

Visited Hamura hardware store, to take my broken marunomi in for repair. Mr. Hamura is a print fan, and showed us his Genji-emaki! He was the first person to be actually critical of my print. His comments were on the lines of: 'the man-on-the-street would think it is fantastic ... but a pro ...' We enjoyed talking to him. We bought an 8000 grit stone (another one of Ishii-san's recommendations).

February 6

Trip to Tokyo for visiting one of Michiyo's translation companies, but including a stop at Tokyu Hands to buy a flask for the carving bench. We then scooted over to Akihabara and ordered this word processor.

February 10

The negatives arrived from Toyo Bunko and turned out to have been sent by a different company from the previous bromides! It seems the work is shared by different organizations, based on day-of-the-week. All our careful instructions had gone for nothing, and the order was screwed up - they had been shot half-frame, making our desired enlargements probably impossible.

February 13

Trip to Tokyo to visit the offset printer in Asakusa to order strip film for the Ono no Komachi print [1-2]. Dropped in on Ishii-san to find out the address, and he took me round there. It turned out that the negatives were just too small for him to be able to produce the necessary enlargement on his machine. He requested that I get an enlargement made and send it to him. He would then shoot the strip film, and send it back to me. Back in Hamura, I stopped at a local photo shop and ordered the enlargement. It would be ready Saturday, the 18th.

February 14

No response (after repeated phone calls) from Ikeda-san, the package maker in Kunitachi. Gave up, and spent the day visiting another half dozen package companies from the Yellow Pages. Drew a blank at all of them.

February 15

Another day spent looking for a package maker. Visited a little, grubby factory in Hino. He seems able to do it, but the quality ....?

February 18

Picked up the enlargement. It was totally useless, being poorly focussed, and with all the thin lines missing.