Stewardess Of The Empress Koka

Here is our second print of the year, the lady we know as Koka-mon-in no Betto. She was an attendant to the Empress Sutoku, living in the middle of the 12th century. This is the second (and last in the series) of the women that Shunsho posed from the back, and when we look at her astonishing cascade of hair, it's easy to see why ... I wonder if those court women back then really did have hair this long ...?

For the more than six years that I have been working on this project, I have been using a copy of the original book in the collection of the Toyo Bunko, a research library here in Tokyo. I have a set of photographic negatives of their volume, and use those to prepare the tracings for my carving work. Working from photographs like this is an acceptable way to do this job, but only just acceptable. It would be far more conducive to development of my carving skills to have an original copy on hand while I work, but for me to actually own a copy of this book has been completely out of the question ...

But this month, I received a package from a rare book dealer in Holland, and inside was Shunsho's book - a quite finely printed copy, with the colours still in good condition. I turned the pages, one by one. Here they were, all these 'friends' of mine ... the 61 I have finished ... and those not yet done ... The paper was thick and soft, the colours muted by age but still smooth and clear, the carving so, so delicate ... And I've been thinking recently that my prints were getting good!

At last, to have this book by my side, and to hold in my hands the actual sheets printed by those men of Edo times ... printed from the very blocks carved by Inoue-san so long ago! But the price was high ... very high. If this package had arrived a couple of years ago, I would have had to send it back with no hesitation. To keep it would have been completely impossible. But recent exhibitions have been more successful, and our savings have been slowly growing ...

So I let the dealer know that I would be like to keep it, and arranged for the payment to be sent. I don't dare tell my kids what I've done, as they would think that I was very stupid indeed, spending such a lot of money on something so useless as 'some old book'. And perhaps I am. But as I sit down to start carving next month's print, there on the workbench by my side, will be this book. This book which has finally, after many years travelling around the world, living temporarily in various homes and collections ... has finally come home. And come home to the one person in the world who can understand, appreciate, and make use of it ... The one person in the world who knows, right down in his guts, exactly what it took to make it ...

And as for my savings? Well, back to square one!

April 1995