Kisen Hoshi

As this is the fourth print of the current set, regular viewers of my work will know before they look that it is going to be a 'bozu', one of the religious members of the Hyaku-nin Isshu. This month it is Kisen Hoshi, a 9th century member of the famous 'Rokkasen' group of poets, and whose poem is one of the most vague and least understood in the entire set of one hundred. As one of my books says: 'Various opinions exist among commentators as to the real purport of his reflections ...'

With no kimono pattern to carve, and only a very few simple colours needed, this month's print took less time than usual to make, and I was able to relax my working pace a bit. I did some overdue maintenance work around the house, and then sat down with my word processor and got busy writing. I first wrote the next newsletter, and then followed with a couple of stories for a Tokyo newspaper. This writing activity is one aspect of my project that has surprised me a little bit. When I first started, over five years ago, I really thought only of the actual printmaking work itself ... my job was simply to make prints. But I realized very soon that sending out just prints alone to the collectors was not very satisfying, neither for me, nor for them. I felt that people couldn't really understand what I was trying to do with my printmaking work, and that the resulting prints were thus simply 'cold' objects, beautiful maybe, but kind of without any 'heart'. So I began 'talking' in addition to printmaking. I started my newsletter, to introduce the other craftsmen and various other topics. And I also started writing these descriptive sheets to accompany the prints, to try and let everybody get a kind of feel for my thoughts as I was making the prints, month by month.

At first the writing was difficult for me, but I gradually got more relaxed about it, and now look forward to the time I spend at the keyboard. I try very hard to make the things I write interesting, but never really know how other people are reacting to them. A couple of months ago, when I delivered a print to one of the collectors who lives nearby, her behaviour surprised me a little. After serving me some tea and chatting for a bit, she took the package, opened it, and then setting the print aside unseen, picked up the 'letter' and read it through. She then started talking to me about what I had written, but when I asked her what she thought of the print, she waved it aside, 'Oh, I'll look at that later.' For her, the writing was becoming more interesting than the prints ... Although I was a bit put-off at the time, I later realized that it doesn't really matter. I suppose the printmaking and writing are pretty much becoming inseparable now, and it doesn't really matter which part gets priority ... Both prints and words will be around for many, many years, to be re-examined off and on, and hopefully enjoyed, down the decades.

It's too bad this month's letter hasn't been more interesting! Maybe next time ...

June, 1994

Translation - Tom Galt 1982