Written on November 21, 1990 [Permalink]

November 21

Sorry about the break. I'm usually pretty good about keeping this thing up to date, doing it almost every other night, but these past couple of weeks ... Let's see if I can try and fill in some of the details.

The second batch of 60 prints turned out OK, but with registration problems spoiling about eight of them. Because the blocks have swelled and shifted quite a bit, I had to print the brown with three separate impressions. Luckily, the various areas of brown are well separated, and it's easy to print them separately. The number of rejects didn't leave me with enough to make up the 100 for stock, so I ran off a third batch of 20, with most of those being OK. That put the year's work in the can!

The visit to Hambei-san (Okura-san?) was interesting. I didn't get to see him carve a stroke, as he had been doing hanshita preparation when I arrived, and in any case, quit working to talk. I had kind of hoped that I would be able to sit in the background, and simply watch him work. Maybe next time I learned a lot. He had solid suggestions on how to improve my sharpening, and didn't really know what to say about my habit of using the knives reverse-handed. His first thoughts were that I should change, but when he realized that I have been doing it backwards for 10 years, he reconsidered (especially after he saw some of my work). Everything I do is different from his way the hand I use, the grip, the finger to support the blade, the length of the knife ... everything. And yet, when he looked at my sumi block for Dianagon Kinto, he said 'umai, desu ne!'

The biggest part of the visit for me was when he brought out a folder full of old prints. These were not finished prints, but sumi impressions taken just after carving. I think they're called 'kyogo'. They were incredible. I thought that the Hokusai book I saw at the old book fair last month was amazing, but these put it to shame. They are the work of various Meiji and Taisho carvers, presumably Hambei-san's teacher's teachers. I simply can't think of any superlatives strong enough to describe these pieces of paper. There's nobody on earth today who can even approach this work. Of course, I will never be able to either, but it's going to be fun trying!

When I left, I tried to ask about coming back next year to watch him work, but didn't get much of a clear answer. We'll see.

The rest of this past week has been filled with the preparations for the trip. The 'big box' is finished, loaded with tools, and shipped to the airport along with our personal stuff, and packages of prints for sale and display. The newsletter is back from the printer, wrapped up, and left with Ashida-san for mailing in early December. The last English class is finished, and Friday night saw the final translation job faxed off. US cash and traveler's checks are purchased and stowed away, all debts are paid, and all paperwork up to date. It's time for a holiday!