Nihon no kami: higashi nihon • nishi nihon [Japanese paper: Eastern an

GOTO (Seikichiro).

Nihon no kami: higashi nihon • nishi nihon [Japanese paper: Eastern and Western Japan]

Japanese paper-making arranged by prefecture

First edition, one of 200 copies, both signed. 2 vols. Numerous illustrations, katazome stencil illustrations and original paper samples tipped-in. 425 by 260mm. Fukuro-toji binding, original katazome stencil printed wrappers and original clay coloured card chitsu folding case with title printed in gilt, some chipping and wear to case, and extremely faint foxing to wrappers and occasional light foxing in later pages, overall a very good copy set. Unpaginated, [77]; [77]ff. Tokyo, Bijutsu Shuppansha, Showa 35 [i.e, 1958.

£2,500.00

A superb production that delves into traditions of paper-making in the eastern and western regions of Japan. This book is as much a research piece as it is Goto’s artistic expression of his love of washi.

The book is organised by prefecture and covers 16 prefectures in the west of Japan that are known for paper-making. These are indicated with a small vignette illustration alongside the name of the prefecture in the top right corner of the page. What follows is a dedicated piece on each of the focused paper-making villages within those prefectures. Each village is illustrated with a katazome print by Goto, and some include a small paper sample so readers can gain a sense of the look and feel of the local papers.

Like many of Goto’s books, the Japanese text is accompanied by an English translation. Goto was particularly keen for the beauty of Japanese papers to be communicated to an audience outside of Japan. One admirable use of this book would be to follow Goto’s footsteps around the east and west of Japan and visit each of the paper-making villages.

The two volumes are both from an edition of 200, the East Japan volume is no.110 and West Japan is no.181.

Stock No.

256595

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