Every year I get fewer and fewer art nengajou (New Year postcards) and, rather than all arriving on January 1st, as is the custom, they trickle in until mid-January. But I am just as guilty of sending fewer and later, so I am delighted and thankful for all cards that I receive.
Some of the etegami nengajou that arrived this week are shown in the photo at the top. All but one depict monkeys (yes, the gorilla counts) for celebrating 2016, the year of the monkey. The exception is the one at the top, far left, representing a shishi-mai, or Japanese version of a lion dance.
I sent out as many handmade New Year etegami as I could manage, though many were the non-orthodox sort. ... collages of etegami images glued onto corrugated cardboard covered in vintage-kimono fabric scraps, for example. Like those posted in the second photo. The one with the image of a red-crowned crane (very auspicious!) doesn't even have words on the image side, so it doesn't count as etegami I suppose. Still, it was fun, and I hope the receiver enjoys it.
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