Ukiyoe Heroes 'Portraits' : Frequently Asked Questions

Ukiyoe Heroes 'Portraits'

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this only by subscription? Can't I buy just the ones I like?

These Portraits are only available as a complete set. Our larger Ukiyoe Heroes are available for purchase one-by-one ...

I missed the original subscriptions in 2014. Can I still get these prints?

The cherry blocks used to create these prints are very hard and long-lasting, and our printers are now in the process of taking another edition from them. This will be sent to new subscribers beginning in January of 2015 with Print #1 - The Wolf Goddess - followed by the others one by one each month until the end of the year.

$35 seems pretty cheap - are these really handmade woodblock prints?

You bet. Each print is carved on cherryblocks (a key block and accompanying set of colour blocks) and then printed by hand by Dave and his staff on the type of washi known as Echizen hosho. This is one of the finest papers available here in Japan, and these prints will last for literally (real literally!) hundreds of years. Here are images of two of the blocks for the first print in the series:

Back on the front page of the Chibi Heroes website you can see a video of some of those prints being made, start to finish, and over on Dave's YouTube channel, there are lots of videos showing him at work on the Heroes prints.

Are gift subscriptions available?

This is no problem at all. We can send the invoice information to you, and the prints themselves to somebody else. Just let us know the two names/addresses in the Comments section when you send in the subscription form. (And we can of course print out and include a letter/message from you in the first package, letting the recipient know what is going on.)

Are you going to use current Japanese commemorative stamps when you ship the prints, the way you do with your other print subscriptions?

Of course! I've learned over the years that this is a big attraction for my collectors - at the same time that they build their print collection, they are adding to their (or their nephew's) stamp collection too!