Written on November 14, 1991 [Permalink]

November

The two wooden buckets arrived from Kobayashi-san in Machiya, along with a bill for 34,000. 34,000! I had originally guessed about 6,000 each, and had then mentally doubled that because 'this is Japan'. I should have tripled it! They're not particularly well made, but they fit my 'big box' perfectly, and I guess they'll last a long time. Michiyo will be glad to have my sharpening junk off the sink at last. The first few times trying to sharpen the knife sitting on the floor instead of standing at the sink were kind of a disaster, as expected, but it seems to have settled down to a new routine now, and the edge of the blade is coming up OK.

Somewhere back in September, Michiyo's sister's husband had called up to let me know that he had organized an exhibition in a coffee shop near his home (in Kumagaya, Saitama). I went out there to see the couple who run the place, and to discuss the event. We arranged to do a one-week event in late November, with 10 prints on display scattered around the shop, and me coming in for the final weekend to do demonstrations. (The place is a three-hour trip from our house). I had mixed feelings about all this. Of course, I knew that I needed to get out and do more stuff like this, but I also didn't want to 'use up' the available publicity before the January exhibition in Ome. If I contacted newspapers, etc. about this one, I doubted that I'd get any coverage in January... I compromised by limited my P/R flyers and stuff to strictly Kumagaya area newspapers. In any event, only two of them covered it, the Yomiuri with a good article and photo, and a smaller local one with a short article.

The event went off well. I took the kids up, and we stayed with the shop owners, who live above the place. They were very helpful, and really went out of their way to help things go well. Aside from Fumi getting the flu and throwing up all over everything a few times, and Himi making a nuisance of herself playing 'waitress', it wasn't too bad. There were a hundred or so people came through, and I came home with two subscriptions and one set order. (One of these was from the shop owners).

Should I seek out more opportunities like this (Ishikawa san's gallery in Utsunomiya, etc.)? I don't know. It feels too much like being a 'travelling salesman'; hauling the stuff in, doing a 'show', taking a couple of orders, and then heading on to the next one.... But if this is what it takes to get subscriptions ....

Mentioning Ishikawa-san reminds me of his communications this fall. He called up one day and talked about giving me an order for 35 prints, one by one. It seems that he has put some of my stuff up in his new gallery (he's opened a little gallery as a retirement business), and had been taking orders for 'this one' and 'that one'. All these people trying to 'help' me! I tried to explain that I couldn't (wouldn't) sell prints that way, but wasn't able to make myself understood, so I got Ashida-san to come over later and talk to him (on the phone). It's really difficult trying to explain why I don't want to sell one-by-one, but would rather stick to my plan, even if takes a long time to 'make it' that way. He really couldn't see my point, and couldn't understand why I won't simply do it like everybody else, and make whatever sales I can, anywhere. We ended up thinking of an exhibition at his place, perhaps next spring after Michiyo comes back from school ...

Got a call from an NHK producer in the Osaka office in early November. She is involved with the planning for a special program they will be doing in January on 'Hyakunin Isshu'. If I understood correctly, it will be a five hour long program centering on the Karuta tournament at Omi Jingu in Otsu City on January 11th, and will also cover history of the poetry etc. etc. She had read about me 'somewhere', and wanted information. I sent her off a sample set, and when she called back a few days later, we set up that I would attend the event in Otsu and be part of the program. As I write this, I have an appointment to meet her in Tokyo next week to discuss details. This sounds like fun. A couple of years ago, when this project was just starting, I wrote a couple of letters to the 'Zen Nihon something or other Karuta Kyokai', who run that event, trying to see if I could get involved, but never got an answer. Surely, if I can get some exposure at a national 'Hyakunin Isshu' event like this ... The TV aspect of it leaves me less excited, as it's going to be a satellite broadcast, and will be not be seen by very many people. She phoned back on November the 11th, and I guess this was my birthday present.

Just about this time, the annual Bunkasai came up, and I had to carve a set of blocks for the kids to print. I used a design from one of our books of folk tales, the 'bunbuku chagama'. The set-up this year was different from past years, with my part being on two consecutive days, rather than one day each weekend. I arranged for Ozawa-san to watch the kids, but I guess there was some misunderstanding, and she ended up dropping her two kids off with me, so that I had the four of them running under my feet all day. The event itself was pretty much the same as usual, and lots of little kiddies got a taste of making a woodblock print.

The series of articles for the Mainichi Daily News started in late October, and finished up just before Christmas. This was more difficult to write than the last one, as I basically had to tell the same story over again, and yet try to put a new twist on it. The nominal theme was the making of a New Year's or Christmas card, but as the last issue came out two days before Christmas, it really couldn't have been so practical for most people. I haven't been paid anything yet, but I'm in no hurry for that. I'd rather have the money come later in January or February when we'll really need it!

The printing for November's print, Sangi Masatsune [3-9], was interesting. The original book was printed with the brown/purple combination we've seen a couple of times before, and I didn't want to repeat the same thing again. I thought of using a grey for the kimono with an 'Edo Murasaki' kind of colour for the hakama. The sample looked terrible, and I was kind of stuck, but had the idea of using the sumi for all the colours, a grey scale print. It came out OK; not exactly a 'symphony in one colour', but interesting none the less. It brought in a few letters and comments from the customers, so must have been generally accepted.