Katazome (stencil dyeing), book covers and Nagai Kafu

Katazome or "stencil dyeing" is traditionally an art form used when designing kimonos.

However, over the years it has evolved into an art form of its own.  

Young artists are using non-traditional motifs to transform the art of dyeing paper with stencils thus bringing it to a wider audience.  One of these young artists is Seki Mihoko.  She is currently working in Kyoto.

I had seen her work on occasion in stationery stores but I never thought to find out who she was. ...until a friend of mine gave me these beautiful pieces of wrapping paper.
They would look very nice in frames and I'm seriously thinking about doing that so that I can hang them in our hallway.  

They would also make lovely book covers....

In Japan, if you buy a book at a bookstore, you will most likely be asked if you would like to have a book cover. (Kabaa tskue raremasuka?  or Kabaa goriyou desuka?)

Most shops have their own paper book covers with the shop's name and info on it.  They  are wrapped around your books for free.

It may not seem like a very environmentally friendly thing to do, but there are two big reasons they are still very popular.  

1.  Many Japanese people don't want other people to know what they are reading...If you are reading something "shallow" it could be embarrassing and if you are reading something that seems rather "complicated" then you would look like a "show-off".  Ah, the glorious wonders of haji-no-bunka (shamefulness as a culture)

2.  Many people read books while commuting on trains, so a book is often carried around in a bag and can get tossed around.  Book covers are nice to have on your book to keep it from getting tattered.

The three books on the left are covered with my local book shop's covers and the two on the right are ones that I made out of "washi" (Japanese paper).

Speaking of books, this might be a good time to show the inside of an old book I bought at a used book store.  

"Sumidagawa" by Nagai Kafu.  

I am not really a fan of his work but his life is rather intriguing since he lived in the US in 1903 and stayed for several years after which he spent some time in France.  It seems that he was forced to go abroad after being a bit of a "disappointment" to his father.  However, instead of studying he spent his time "looking" at the country and jotting things down. These memos turned into stories such as "Ladies of the Night" and "Midnight at a Bar".  As you can tell by the titles, Nagai seems to have been quite the swinger.  This is probably why I never really felt intrigued to read one of his books.

So, why did I buy "Sumidagawa"?  There are two reasons why I like to buy old Japanese books.

1.  They have furigana next to the kanji : they have the easily read Japanese alphabet written next to the more complicated to read Chinese characters.

2.  They look really swell.

Although the Japanese used in the days that Nagai wrote is old and rather hard to read, it is still nice to have those little markings next to the kanji to help readers like me.  I probably won't understand the whole thing without reading each sentence twice but it is an easy way to travel back in time to Japan in the early 1900s.