nengajou highlights

The highlight of every New Years Day is the nengajou (Japanese new year greeting postcards) that arrive sometime during the morning. People sending traditional nengajou must slip the cards through the specially-labeled nengajou slot in the mailbox before a pre-determined deadline (usually around December 24) in order to be guaranteed delivery on January 1. The cards that make the deadline arrive on New Years morning in a bundle fastened with a rubber band. At the top of the bundle is a greeting from the Japan Postal Service with their best wishes for the new year. The cards that don't make the deadline get delivered with the regular mail, after the holiday is over, and after the postal service is back to normal operation.

I just love the excitement of waiting for nengajo delivery on New Years morning! The images posted here are my favorites (so far) among the artsy cards from this year's haul. Some are hand-painted originals, others are prints made from original artwork. I expect more will trickle in after the holiday is over. Eventually, I will store them in a special nengajou card album. I refer to these albums when it's time to make next year's nengajou address list. I also refer to the album in twelve years' time when the oriental zodiac comes full circle, to get inspiration for my own etegami nengajou designs.

This year's zodiac animal is the dragon, and most of the cards I received, even the majority that were not handmade, depicted a dragon of some sort. Sea horses count as dragons, as they are called "dragon children" in Japanese. But the zodiac animal is by no means the only felicitous image for a New Year card. Mt.Fuji, a brilliant sunrise, red-crowned cranes, flying kites, the otafuku mask (as in 2nd image from the bottom) and many more images are used for nengajou.

Dearest friends and followers, May you have a blessed and joyful 2012!

dragons

My mind is currently full of dragons; The reason being that I start thinking of designs for my etegami nengajou (Japanese New Year cards) around this time of year, and 2012 happens to be The Year of the Dragon.

Here are a couple that I just finished. The first was inspired by The Tale of Custard the Dragon, a sweet and funny poem by Ogden Nash, which is too long to post here. The second was inspired by The Dragon of Grindly Grun, a funny poem by Shel Silverstein, which (in a strange way) appeals to my passion for cooking. It's short enough to quote in full, so here it is:

The Dragon of Grindly Grun

I'm the Dragon of Grindly Grun,
I breathe fire as hot as the sun.
When a knight comes to fight
I just toast him on sight,
Like a hot crispy cinnamon bun.

When I see a fair damsel go by,
I just sigh a fiery sigh,
And she'd baked like a 'tater-
I think of her later
With a romantic tear in my eye.

I'm the Dragon of Grindly Grun,
But my lunches aren't very much fun,
For I like my damsels medium rare,
and they always come out well done.

by Shel Silverstein (1930-1999)

sketchbook project 2012 (fourth tale)

My last Ainu folk tale The Swamp Mussel's Song, the front & back covers, and misc. pages. It's all done and ready to mail. You can click through the whole thing on my Art House Co-op profile page.

sketchbook project 2012 (third tale)

The Ainu word that usually gets translated as "god" is kamuy, and it basically applies to all things other than humans (ainu). This includes both living and non-living things. In the traditional Ainu worldview, kamuy spirits normally live in kamuy moshir (the land where the kamuy dwell), living just as humans do in ainu moshir (the land where the humans dwell). But once in a while, the kamuy borrow the forms of animals, plants, tools, and so forth, to visit the human world. And when they are freed from those forms (usually when their form dies or is used up in service to the humans) their spirits return to the land where the kamuy dwell, until such time as they desire to visit the human world again.

If the kamuy are not treated with honor during their visit to the human world, they are less likely to come for another visit. The forms which kamuy leave behind when they return to their own world are the food and other necessities that humans require for life. A steady supply of these necessities depends on humans showing proper respect and thankfulness (through various rituals) to ensure that the kamuy will make regular visits to the human world.

So, while there are many, many kamuy, some kamuy have higher status than others. The Owl Kamuy takes the form of the Blakiston's Fish Owl, probably the largest species of owl in the world. It is the guardian of the human village and has very high status. That's why I kept the word "god" in the title of The Owl God's Song, even though I omitted it in the other titles as being irrelevant and potentially confusing.

sketchbook project 2012 (first tale)

I wrote about what I had in mind to do for the Sketchbook Project 2012 in an earlier post, but I find that as my sketchbook takes shape, I've had to make minor adjustments to my original concept. It is, however, taking shape, and that's the important thing. I am posting the first of the four yukar tales ("the river otter's song") that make up my new project. I hope it grabs your interest enough that you will come back to see more. :p