Written on August 30, 1991 [Permalink]

August

The trip to Aizu Wakamatsu was a pleasant couple of days (except for the umpteen hours spent on the freeway in the car). There were three of us, Margaret and Takahashi-san from Abe Publishing, a company putting out books on Japanese hanga artists. Saito-sensei was quite approachable, and the conversation was relaxed and informal. It turns out that he hasn't done any of his own printing for decades now, but still seems to do his own carving (on plywood). I don't feel much empathy for his stuff (the current theme is brightly coloured vegetables and dead leaves), but he certainly doesn't think much of mine either! In any case, it was a pleasant break.

In the car on the way back, Margaret suggested a change of plan for the 'Ichi no Ichi' articles. Because of the ... um ... lack of warm feeling between Saito and myself, she said she would do the feature on Saito herself, and I would take an alternative assignment: one on my own work (for her Winter issue). Because I'm not really sure if the Ichi no Ichi will do me any good (I'm not really after 'gaijin' customers), I had considered trying to feel her out on doing a story on David Stones instead of me, but before I could bring it up, she mentioned that he had written to her, sending print samples. She didn't seem to think too much of them, and wasn't interested in covering his work, so I guess it will be me after all ... I'm to turn in the article by the end of September. I'm not sure what to emphasize, the print series, the craft in general, personal history ...

The next day when it came time to head out to Mie-ken for the summer holiday, a few phone calls caused a total change of plans. Michiyo's friend in Sendai was sick, and Usui-san in Niigata was busy, so we decided to scoot directly there, and make the visits on the way home at the end of the month.

We had a good summer. I finished the carving on Ryozen Hoshi [3-7], working very sporadically, and spending much more time with the 'book box' than with the printmaking box. We had been toying with the idea of going up to the mountain house for an extended period, but that got sidetracked because I sent out a bunch of mailings to newspapers and TV: 'Foreign printmaker in residence in Mie for the summer', etc., and we had to stay near the phone. We got writeups in four or five local newspapers, and a nibble (but no bite) from a Nagoya TV station. This all resulted in a number of visitors, and two new subscribers, both from Shingu.

The people from the Mainichi Daily News 'Japanofile' desk also called (a few days before we headed home), asking for another series of articles, to run just before the New Year, and covering 'How to Make Christmas Cards, etc.'. This seems too soon after the last one, but that's what they want .... This left me getting a bit nervous about the writing work stacking up: a series of newspaper articles, the Ichi no Ichi story, and my own September newsletter not even started! Well, what's a vacation for ....

On our last day there, we took a hike up to Okunono (the mountain house) to look around, and we were both struck again by how much we are drawn to that place. The peace, the river, the history ... "We should have been staying up here," was the feeling, and perhaps next year will see a bit more determination to get up there for a while ....

Stopped at Yamaguchi's on the way back towards Tokyo. This visit was a bit more comfortable than the one a couple of years ago, and I was able to get some information and a few photographs for the upcoming newsletter. They are still not used to having guests, and we didn't stay long. Just keeping in touch ...

Next stop was Usui-san in Niigata. He is much more hospitable, too much so! He had arranged a place for us to stay at a local resort place, and then took time to show us the local sights, and even set up a meeting with a local amateur woodblock printmakers group. He took us out to a local blacksmith's shop, one of his friends, and I got to take a turn trying to hammer two pieces of metal together under a press. (That was a bit frustrating. I watched the guy do about six in a row, madly trying to memorize the working sequence, but when it came to my turn, he changed to a different process, and I had to try and guess what he wanted, with mixed results!) A very pleasant, if busy, day. I really wish I had the time to go up there and do some serious metal banging. I'm sure I could make some presentable tools ....