Fujiwara no Tadamichi

... or as he was otherwise known, Hoshoji Nyudo Saki No Kanpaku Daijo Daijin". The long name, which is carved down the left side of the print, describes his position as a former prime minister and lay priest of Hosho temple.

The poem is another of those which strikes me as being a bit pointless... What is it for?

But I have to remember not to expect action or drama in these poems. I suppose that it's enough just to establish a scene in the mind. The reader then makes of it what he will ...

While I was carving the other day, I was listening to a radio program in which a man was discussing the 'loneliness' of being an artist. He was not just talking about the long, lonely hours of work involved in the actual making of each piece of art, but what came after it was finished. If the artist is lucky, he may have an exhibition, to which some people may come, to stand in front of his work and look at it for a few seconds. If he is even luckier, one of the viewers might buy one of his works, hang it on the wall at home, look at it for a few more seconds, and probably never notice it again. And that's the end of it. Nobody really understands what he is trying to do. This man is really only working for himself. For his own feelings of accomplishment. This kind of artist must indeed be a very, very lonely person.

But as I listened to the discussion, I realized how much my situation is different. Yes, of course I also spend long, long hours by myself carving and printing. But what different circumstances! Instead of wondering if anyone will ever take any interest in what I am making, I know in advance as I am working away at my bench, that people are out there eagerly waiting for me to finish each print. As I carve each line and character, and mix each colour, I know that the results of my work will be carefully inspected. I feel as if a few dozen people were constantly present in my workroom, looking over my shoulder. I know also that the finished print sets, accumulated slowly one by one, will become 'family treasures'. Future generations of your family will take them out to have a look ... 'These were made way back in the early Heisei era ....'

Some of you I have come to know well over the past few years, and some of you I have yet to even meet, but as I sign your print each month just before wrapping it, I say 'thank you' to each of you. Without your interest in my work, I would truly be the loneliest man in town. But because of your support, I can work with a light heart, knowing that what I am doing means something to other people as well.

Thank you very, very much.

November 1992

(Gee, and I thought these monthly memos were supposed to be talking about the prints! I'll try and get back on track ...)