Written on April 9, 1990 [Permalink]

April 1

Another day lost ... Cherries in the morning with Michiyo and kids, and bookshelf making in the afternoon. Luckily (!) my Japanese class in the evening was postponed by Takayoshi, so I could at least get a couple of hours in.

April 2

Yet another day mostly lost... Fumi's entrance ceremony at the Hoikuen ate the whole morning, keeping the kids entertained at Himi's birthday party killed the afternoon, and my Japanese class used up most of the evening. I don't think that there is any way I'm going to get this print out of here by the middle of the month. Is this how it's going to be from now on? Continuous pressure, every day, every month?

April 3

Due to the 'wonderful' response to the Jiji article last week, (a giant goose egg) its time to scoot off to Tokyo for another joyous day browsing through English textbooks looking for ideas for the next term. I spent about 5 or 6 hours in Biblos, before giving up in disgust and heading over to Matsuyoshi to pick up some pigments. I'm almost out of 'hada-iro' and a couple of others.

Before going to Matsuyoshi, I stopped in at Gyokueido to refresh my memory re their copy of the Shunsho book that I saw last year. No chance, as it was sold recently. I have sort of been carrying the idea that nobody would want it (the printing was so bad), and that it would always be there for me to inspect. They do however, have another very interesting book, a Hyakunin Isshu by a Meiji-era artist, which I have seen illustrated in various places. It's in quite good condition, and is priced at 120,000. Hmmm. I certainly don't want to start carving it, but it would be a nice book to have ... As always, when I walk down the street in Jimbocho, I browse in the windows, and just as a customer was leaving one place, the words Hyakunin Isshu jumped out at me from a time label high up on a stack of books, in a another 'rare book' store. I went in to peek at it, but it was a gruesome late era publication that looks as though Himi-chan printed it. No thanks, but as I was turning away I saw yet another one on a pile of junky-looking books. This one was neat. The printing was not too bad, the book even had something of the feel of the Shunsho book, and it was priced at only 2,500. Of course, I grabbed it. I'm sure that it's junk to the bookshop owner. but to me it's a treasure. My first 'original' prints!

During Yukiko's lesson that evening, I heard Michiyo making a few phone calls that sounded like 'hanga business'. After the class she filled me in. Yamashita-san has been busy scouring the country for Yamazakura trees! The other day at lunch, we had told him about the cherry wood problem, and he seems to have taken on the job of solving it for me. He has found one in Gifu prefecture, and wants to know if he should have it chopped down, and what size it should be resawn, etc. etc. Michiyo called Shimano-san for advice, and passed on his instructions to Yamashita-san. Am I about to buy a cherry tree? It would sure be neat having my own stock of cherry boards curing somewhere (Yamashita-san's warehouse?), and Shimano-san said that he would be willing to plane the stuff for me if I sent it round to him. I only hope that I don't get a bill for a million yen sometime next week...

April 4

Spent the morning paying bills, etc. It looks as though both this month and last will be negative months. We had a nice little blast in February with those customers buying sets, but have now settled back down to about 280,000 yen income (prints). With the normal expenses for paper, blocks, postage, etc. plus Ashida-san's salary, plus the additional expenses involved in keeping her supplied with folder making materials, there's no way I can get out of the red. English now only provides for about half of our monthly needs, so the translation money is really helping us keep above water. Thank you Michiyo (and me!).

April 6

A phone call early in the morning from a Mr. Saito, who wanted to order two Ono no Komachi, two of Horikawa, and one Tenji Tenno. He saw them in the copy of Shukan Jili that Yamashita-san sent him! (Is he working full time for us!?!) Although I still don't want to sell ones and twos, there's obviously no way I could possibly refuse, so we cheerfully accepted the order. Ashida-san prepared them, and I mailed them in the afternoon, after Himi-chan's school entrance ceremony.

April 7~8

A marathon carving weekend, and finished the key block for Sei Shongaon [2-2]. Maybe I'll be able to get this one out on time after all ...

April 9 Started in on the colour blocks. There's going to be eight colours (plus sumi) on this one, and she's a standing figure, so I had expected to be using five pieces of wood in all. It turns out though, that as she is standing off to the side, I can turn some of the blocks sideways for printing kimono patterns, and the whole thing will go on only three pieces of wood! I wasn't worried about saving money, but those two unused blocks will do for all the carving of the next print.