Written on February 4, 1991 [Permalink]

January 30

Big day tomorrow - the new helper starts! I forgot to mention last week that our new neighbour in apartment 101 has agreed to try the work. Shintani-san will be here tomorrow morning for an 'orientation' session with Ashida-san and myself. If this works out it will be great - literally next door! I'm holding my breath.

Counting through the customer book now gives a total of 30 people signed up for next year, or still working on back numbers. There are still eight from last year who have yet to notify about continuing, and I think half of those are probables. Looks good. I was afraid that we would be getting wiped out over the new year change, but it seems to be OK. If Serai brings in a few more, we'll be sailing. More and more of these people are starting to talk about going to 100, and perhaps in a few more years the January exhibition will be purely for show: "I'm sorry, but we're booked up until 1998" .....

February 1

Shintani-san was here today for about five hours, together with Ashida-san. The morning was spent in going over the job (I didn't realize just how many different aspects there are to it!), and then they spent a few hours actually making a few sample folders. She seems able to take it on, and I think that she'll turn out good stuff. I sure hope this comes together, as there is no way that I could face making those things by myself again ...

February 3

The last few days have been mostly carving - first the hakama, then the round patterns on the kimono, and finally the wiggly 'cloud' lines on the kimono. I was afraid that this was going to take a long time, but its gone well, and I'll probably finish the kimono by tomorrow night.

February 4

Today was the visit from Okada Yoshio and Saeki san from Yuyudo. Interesting! I don't know where to start to describe the conversation. I had been afraid that he would turn out to be rather formal, but this was totally not the case. He was very open and friendly. He is very familiar with Shunsho's series. Very. Simply going by the photo published in the Aoi Post that was stuffed in his mailbox, he had noticed that I had carved Horikawa's mouth about 0.x mm too short, and that her nose was just 'mmnmm' a little off. He has obviously studied it intensively, and had lots of things to say. About eight years ago, I had sent him a copy of one of my first prints, made to one of his designs that I had seen in a book, and he had written back politely. Apparently when he saw the picture in the Aoi Post, he remembered me, and contacted Saeki-san (why?) to arrange contact.

Today, he had many polite things to say about my work, and he seemed genuinely knocked out by what I have done so far. He feels that the carving is very good, but that the colours are rather less so. I'll buy that! At one point, he fell silent for a few minutes, and then came out with the suggestion that we 'do some work together'. I guess he means for me to carve and print, under his direction. He has some kind of large scale project under way at the moment that will take another couple of years to complete, but when that's done .... Perhaps by then, I'll be a bit more ready to tackle it. Surely by then I'll have the English out of the way, and have extra time ....

A fascinating day!