Written on June 25, 1989 [Permalink]

June 17

During lunch today, a phone call from Kumiko Sakazaki. They had invited a friend of theirs (apparently a print collector of sorts) over to see their copy of my prints, and ended up taking an order for a set. I'm to deliver the first two when I go for my Japanese lesson tomorrow. Actually, this isn't the first set that has been ordered. I forgot to mention (!) that earlier this week, after the Yomiuri article came out, the people at the local bakery asked Michiyo if they could get some prints, too. I had Michiyo take them a copy of the little pamphlet, to make sure thet they understood the procedure, and they confirmed that they would like a set. That's two! One sight unseen, and one from somebody having inspected the work.

June 18

Today was the visit from Sylvia Mair, the Australian woman who phoned a few weeks ago after seeing the Japan Times notice. She came with her husband Ian, and daughter Helen. We had an interesting and relaxed day, talking, eating Michiyo's tasty pizza, and printing. I had prepared a few sheets of paper the night before, and she printed herself a copy of Ono no Komachi, which turned out pretty well. This was the first workout for the new baren from Seki-san, and it looks like it will be just perfect for the sumi impressions.

In the evening, I took the prints round to the Sakazakis, for delivery to Teramoto-san. Apparently, she would like to see how these prints are made, so she wants to come round (with a few friends!) to see the process, probably next week. Kumiko will set up a time with them.

June 19

Delivered the prints to the bakery people. I also gave them a frame and mat set (the one from my workshop wall!) as they want to display the prints month by month in the bakery. I didn't have an invoice ready, and just expected to drop them off and do the paperwork later, but she whipped out her purse and gave me the ¥20,000 right there! I guess this is actually quite a milestone. In two weeks time, we will have been in Japan three years, having come with the ostensible purpose of 'learning printmaking', and doing what we could to make a living at it. After innumerable sidetracks and distractions, maybe we're almost there! (Listen to this guy ... talk about counting the chickens ... two customers - out of a minimum 40 to survive!)

About 10 hours on the block. Finished the kimono pattern, and did the face and hair. Didn't have the nerve to try and open the eyes!

June 20

9 hours. Now on the home stretch - the poem. Got as far as 'Dainagon Tsuneno...'. A package arrived from the film company today - the colour negatives of the complete book! Only one slight problem - one is missing! We phoned Mr. Tominaga, and he promised to take care of it...

June 21

English preparation in the morning, and classes starting at 5:30, but got in 3 hours. Did '...bu Yufu...'

June 23

About 5 hours. Did '...sareba kadotano inaba otozurete'. The carving of the letters is becoming much cleaner and neater. I'm finally getting away from the 'chippy-chippy', 'picky-picky' approach, and am leaving the block much smoother. Just a few more days now!

Got off a belated thank you letter to Seki-san, for his hospitality last week.

The last few days, Michiyo has been fooling around with the bamboo skins that Kaneko gave us last month. She's making an attempt at learning how to 'weave' the inner baren coil. It looks pretty good so far, and she has used up the stuff that they gave her, resulting in about 18 meters of cord made. One of the books we have says that about 30 meters is necessary, so we'll have to get them to send us some more. She phoned the baren maker living in Saitama-ken, to see if we could visit and watch, but he is apparently too busy at the moment, and suggested that a later date would be more convenient.

[ photo of this ... ]

June 24

A good carving session - 'ashinomaroyani akikase ...'. After coming home from Fussa English classes, prepared 50 sheets of paper for a run of Ono no Komachi. I'm not ready to try 100 yet (no time!).

June 25

Package arrived from Kaneko Co., the baren skin supplier. Michiyo had phoned them to ask about prices and stuff, and they sent a couple of kilos, with a bill for ¥5,000+.

The sumi printing attempt was a disaster. After screwing up about 10 of the 50 sheets, I put it away 'for another day'. I don't know what's wrong, but maybe the paper is too wet. This latest batch of paper from Yamaguchi is quite a bit thinner than the previous stuff (I should have expected that, having complained about too thick before), and I probably used too much water when moistening it last night.

After packing up the printing, turned to the final carving on Tsunenobu [1-3], and finished it '... zofuku'. Had quite a bit of trouble registering the two sumi blocks. Printed a few sample sheets and pasted them down on the colour blocks ready for carving.