Dainagon Tsunenobo

Here is the third in this year's set, Dainagon Tsunenobu. After the dramatic poses of the first two prints, it's time for a more peaceful image.

The poem is one of only a few in the Hyaku-nin Isshu that uses sound to evoke its images, and I suppose that this should come as no surprise when we find out that Tsunenobu was noted for his ability on the 'biwa', a Japanese type of lute.

As I am only on my third print out of one hundred, with 97 still to go, I understandably don't want to spend too much time thinking about that long road ahead, but am finding that 'ten years!' is the first thing on everybody's mind when they talk to me about my work. I have mixed feeling about this. On one hand, I too feel that this is something 'special' to be doing, and enjoy the attention it draws, but can't help comparing this with most other peoples' work. For example, when a young person just out of college joins a company he is presumably going to be working there for not just ten years, but perhaps thirty or forty. Nobody says 'forty years!' to him. Why then, is everybody so surprised at my plan? Is it because my work looks like it might be 'boring' - the same thing repeated month after month? Well, I certainly don't intend to get bored. There is a huge amount of things to learn in the field of traditional woodblock printmaking, and I have a long, long way to go in developing my carving and printing skills. I don't think ten years is going to be enough!

I hope you enjoy this month's print. Coming up next - another biwa player, this time the blind priest, Semi Maru.

Until then ...