Designer: Yoko Ishikawa | Publisher: Mokuhankan | Date: 2020

Paper size: 21.5cm by 15.5cm | Enlargement | Currency: $ / £ / €

Price: $ 14.00£ 11.50€ 13.50

Description: This item is not a woodblock print - it is an offset book containing the same content as a set of four hand-carved and hand-printed woodblock books made by Mokuhankan staff printer Yoko Ishikawa. (She doesn't get enough of this here at work; this is how she spends her time off!)

A huge amount of work went into the original books - everything on every page is hand-carved, including the lettering. She only made a few copies of each one, mainly for distribution to family members. But once they were done, she also had these offset books made, so that a wider audience could enjoy her work.

The content is straight-forward ... each book is an episode from their daily life with Yu-chan, their long-time pet Shiba-inu. (Yu-chan is gone now, but Ishikawa-san is still producing books about him; Volume 5 (not included in this collection) is done, and Volume 6 is in preparation ...)

This collection contains the full content of: Volume 1 (16 pages), Volume 2 (20 pages), Volume 3 (12 pages), and Volume 4 (10 pages).

(We have prepared a .pdf file with English translations of the captions; if you need this, please ask for it in the comments when you place your order.)

The sample 'spread' below is taken from Volume 3; Yu-chan has been wanting to go to the local station on his daily walk, always pulling in that direction. So today, he has been taken inside … (The book reads right to left ...)

Top right: “Yu-chan, the train is soon coming.”

Bottom right: “Yu-chan, the train is here … it’s here!”

Top left: “Yu-chan, the train! Look, the train!”

Bottom left: “No interest in the train? What’s wrong?”

(It turns out that Yu-chan's interest in the station was nothing to do with the trains ... What could it be?)

The cover of the original hand-printed volume 1

The cover of the original hand-printed volume 2

The cover of the original hand-printed volume 3

The cover of the original hand-printed volume 4