Welcome to the Small Print Collection from the Seseragi Studio! Over the course of the past year (2005) I issued my Hanga Treasure Chest, and that collection of 24 small prints was very well received by my collectors. To do such an intensive project again - and so soon - is just not possible this year, so I am creating this smaller collection of 10 prints instead.

There was no specific 'theme' to that previous collection, but there is for this one. The ten images are those that I created for the greeting cards that I sent out to collectors and friends at the turn of each year from 1990 to 1999.

As I have written elsewhere, I myself don't subscribe to the common habit of using astrological symbols for my designs, so there is nothing to tie each image to any particular year. And although there may be prints in this set which reflect a 'wintry' season, most of them are neutral in concept; when you receive them as this coming year passes, if a snow scene happens to arrive at your door in August, please just enjoy the unexpected 'cool' feeling!

At the time that this particular image was created, I was just coming to the end of the first year of work on my 10-year project to reproduce the Hyakunin Isshu designs of Katsukawa Shunsho. So I chose a theme related to that poetry - the game of karuta.

I sketched a few of the cards as though they had been slapped into the air during a vigorous round of the game. I particularly enjoyed cutting the tatami mat design, and if you take the print near a window, you will see the realistic embossing that resulted.

Thank you for choosing to collect this set of little prints this year, and I hope you enjoy the collection! See you next month!

David

March 6, 2006