Zenkoji Bon-Odori (善光寺　盆踊り)

Designer: Jed Henry | Carver: Noriko Kawasaki | Printer: Ayumi Ohashi

Paper size: 19.5cm by 27cm | Enlargement | Shipping Code: [L] ? ( Change currency: $ / £ / € )

Price: $ 180.00£ 145.00€ 165.00

   

Description: Comments from Jed: "I lived in Japan for two years, and I was lucky to witness several Obon celebrations. At that time, my grandmother and grandfather had recently passed away, and I hadn't fully grieved their loss. I was touched by the joyful way that Japanese people celebrate their deceased ancestors through dance and family gatherings. Seeing their acceptance of death helped me to process my own loss. If you ever travel to Japan in July or August, I encourage you to research nearby Obon celebrations. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!"

Comments from Dave: Here in the 2020s we are pretty much 100 years on from the era when the print genre known as shin-hanga got under way. It had its roots in the previous ukiyo-e of course, and was - for the most part - the inspiration of the publisher Shozaburo Watanabe. His company had a flourishing business in the publication of reproductions of the old prints, but at some point he decided to step up to the plate, and have a go at creating new original work.

Although Watanabe's name is now most commonly connected with that of Kawase Hasui, who became his primary designer of these new designs, it is hugely interesting that his first attempts at the genre were with a British designer - Charles Bartlett. Watanabe published a number of Bartlett's designs, and it is no exaggeration to say that the layering of Bartlett's 'foreign eye' onto the traditional Japanese technical base was a major factor behind the success of the new genre.

Well, I think you now know where this story is going ... The shin-hanga genre lost its way in the post-war years, due to a combination of economic factors and lack of strong leadership and vision, but the basic concepts are still sound, so here we are again - a hundred years later - with another combination of 'foreign eye' and Japanese techniques!

Jed Henry is of course most familiar to everybody as the designer of the iconic Ukiyo-e Heroes game parody prints. But his studies of the Japanese print have ranged far and wide, and he has long wanted to explore different genres of the field. He and I have already published a number of smaller prints in a 'shin-hanga lite' style (our Japan Journey and Woodblock Pilgrimage print sets), but with this print we move a step closer to the 'real thing'.

Our team here has hugely enjoyed working on Jed's design, and feel that we have produced something attractive and worthwhile. Whether or not we can now build on this and move forward with work that will rival that of the previous century remains to be seen.

But we are certainly going to have a ton of fun trying!

Tokyo, Autumn 2022

   

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