I've just spent four days in Takayama, for the bi-annual, two day festival. It was really wonderful. Eleven, three hundred year old floats are lined up to be viewed by the public and there are thousands of visitors who flock to the city to experience the celebrations. The floats are very tall, grand and elaborately decorated carts that sit on four wheels. Mainly made from wood with a black lacquer and highly polished. They are really breath taking, covered in gold leaf and in-layed with mother of pearl and more gold. And that's just the wheels!

Wooden carvings adorn the main body of the floats, some are bright, colourful and have been painted. Others carvings left to show the grain of the wood. These intricate carvings depict rabbits, tiger's, dragons and plants. Heavily embroidered fabrics, basically a tapestry, hang to conceal musicians and puppeteers within the floats. The puppets made from painted wood sit at the very top of the structure (floats) and must have been made and attached at such an angle so that they look down on the crowds. The puppets look like King and Queen looking down on their subjects - me and all the other thousands of tourists snapping away. 

     

                                                               

                                 

The best part of the weekend was the evening, once it got dark thousands of lanterns were lit and the town became magical. It gets dark around 6pm but stays warm.  The floats, covered in lanterns, were paraded around town. You could just see a few heads poking out of the top of the floats which are filled with children; I'm guessing around 6-12, playing instruments and singing. It was heart warming to watch how proud their parents were - following on foot and laughing at how loud their kids were singing and what effort they were putting in. 

But it must have been really amazing for the children to be sitting at the top of the historical works of art, parading though the tiny streets of the town and have literally thousands of adults applauding, cheering and flashing photography at them.

                                     

Im now back in Tokyo and in my own studio flat in the hipster area of Shimo-Kitazawa. Im renting the flat on Airbnb from man called Andy. I'd describe this room as your quintessential bachelors pad, a bit grubby but does the job. 

Anyway yesterday was insanely brilliant! I was taken by a friend to visit a museum dedicated to printmaking called Machida City Museum of Graphic Art. It has two huge galleries, a lecture theatre and massive printmaking workshops all under one roof. It's in a pretty grand building in the centre of a park, all funded by the government. I was introduced to the museum curator, who gave me a tour of the building, free catalogue and ticket to the exhibition. The show displayed 18th century Japanese woodblock prints; post revolution, the prints show how Japan was changing having been exposed to western culture. 

I was also taken to see a printmaking studio called Kawalabo, run by a husband and wife team who set it up about six years ago. The studio is amazing.  I'm going to work there for a day on the 16th Oct. I want to pay for the day but the owners won't let me, instead they'd rather I give them a print. I'm feeling the pressure; it will be tough to produce something good in one day! 

After being shown around the studio we all went out for dinner and everyone got quite drunk on pickled plum and soda, a very weird tasting drink a bit like gin & tonic but more salty. It sounds awful doesn't it. Toshihiko took me and introduced me to everyone. He is an artist who I met through Nigel Oxley and here is a link to his work. He currently has a solo exhibition in Tokyo which I went to see the other day. He is very talented working primarily in etching and drawing.  Toshihiko, Sachie and Kawala (the founders of Kawalabo) are part of a collective of printmakers called Prism Print International to which I am also an associate. All four of us are currently exhibiting together in Italy. The show is part of the IXth International Engraving Exhibition in Cremona, Italy. You can find more information about the show and Prism Print International here.

It's now the 17th October and I've been in Japan for two weeks, it's been a whirlwind adventure. I'm just getting over a cold - I think my body has been telling me to rest. It's all been so overwhelming and better than I could have hoped it would be, mainly due to the fact that Japanese people are incredibly kind and generous with their time and want to help you. 

Yesterday I went to Kawalabo to work for the day. It just so happens there is a direct train form Shimo-Kitazawa to Machida where the studio is based.  It was actually really fun getting an early train to somewhere for work. It made me feel almost like a resident of Tokyo. I was worried I would be like a bull in a china shop working in a print studio in Japan. The workshop is very clean, ordered and small - I was worried I would spread out too much, make a mess and break something. But it was absolutely fine, it was a very comfortable space to work in. The etching press was amazing and unlike anything I've ever encountered before. It worked on a compression system with a dial to show the amount of pressure applied. Best of all, the pressure has zero bearing on the handle you turn to move the bed. So it was a dream to use. Unlike UK presses which are an absolute work out every time you want to run a print through.  I was also very nervous about what I would make in a day there. I was wanting to just experience a new and different workshop and I had absolutely no idea what I'd do once I got there. I decided to make a print based on an exhibition of Ikebana (flower arrangements) that I'd seen and snapped during my first few days in Japan.  I worked from 10am - 6.30pm and managed to finish the monoprint. I think Sachie the owner was happy with what I made.