Chunagon Asatada

Here is the seventh in this year's Hyaku-nin Isshu series, Chunagon Asatada, from the mid-tenth century. His poem is draped in a heavy, heavy romanticism (at least in the English translation!)

This picture is one of my favorites in the series (do I say that every month?). I like the big standing figures best. They are more work to make - both carving and printing - but are certainly more dramatic.

The kimono pattern of this print, unlike most of the others, covers the entire area of the cloth, and took me an embarrassingly long time to carve. A true Edo-era shokunin would probably have finished it in a day! Maybe by the time I have finished making all 100 prints in this series, I will be that fast. Until then, I will just continue plodding along slowly, but steadily.

Although it is the modern custom to put prints in a frame and hang them on the wall for viewing, I very much enjoy looking at them on a low table set in front of a closed shoji screen, with the overhead room lights extinguished. Seen this way, under a soft, horizontal illumination, the print becomes much more of a 'live' object. The embossing of the printing process is readily visible, as is the texture of the fine paper, and the soft colours blend together beautifully. I feel it is also much better to keep the prints tucked away out of sight in their storage cases, and only bring them out for viewing occasionally. If they are left hanging on the wall, they soon become part of the general background, and are no longer noticed. I think it is no coincidence that the best way to enjoy these very Japanese works of art, is in these traditional Japanese ways ...

I hope you enjoy this print (but only occasionally!). Coming up next - Taikenmonin Horikawa.