bookplates and disaster relief updates

I am waaay overdue to post an update on two topics for which you, my dear readers, have given your invaluable input. The first pertains to the etegami bookplates. I was pleased to receive some great feedback from the winners of the bookplate giveaway. All the feedback was encouraging and supportive, and many suggested thoughtful improvements. That got my creative juices flowing, and I began devising all sorts of variations on my original bookplate designs. Then, inevitably, I became distracted by other enthusiasms (I have so many, I don't know what to do with myself!). So, I regret to say that the bookplates are not nearly ready to be listed on my Etsy shop. They will percolate a while longer in my brain, if you don't mind. :)

Now, the second, and more important topic, is the "We Are Connected" flying carp t-shirt I designed to raise funds to help the victims of the March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake/Tsunami disaster get back on their feet. In your country, the media may have stopped reporting on the disaster, but we are still a long way (probably decades away) from recovery.  After learning that my original choice of disaster relief organizations was no longer functioning, I submitted the first year's sales proceeds to the Japan Red Cross. Sales of the t-shirt have picked up a bit recently for some reason, so I'm hoping to be able to make a second donation at the end of this year. Thank you thank you for your generous support of this project! If you haven't yet purchased your totally customizable flying carp t-shirt, click on the t-shirt photo at the top right corner of this page to find out how you can.

sketchbook project-- limited edition

A few months ago, I signed up to participate in the Sketchbook Project- Limited Edition. I finished it today! This will be the third (and probably last) Art House Co-op-organized project that I will take part in. For my first Sketchbook I painted etegami depicting Japanese Proverbs. That one toured the US in 2011. For my second, I illustrated my English translations of four Ainu folktales. That one will be touring in 2012. My last Sketchbook is a collection of my Earthquake/Tsunami- themed etegami. I don't think this one goes on tour, but it (or part of it) will be included in a series of art books documenting the project. I feel good that I was able to honor the victims and survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake/Tsunami in this last Sketchbook. In a way it gives me closure, but it will also help to remind me and others of a day that shouldn't ever be forgotten. When this Sketchbook gets digitized and posted on my Art House Co-op profile page, I'll let you know.

earthquake series for sale

The original etegami in my Earthquake/Tsunami Series are for sale on my Etsy shop. In honor of the many who lost their lives one year ago this month, and of those who survived to mourn and to rebuild, I am offering free shipping on the works in this series, to anywhere in the world, till the end of March. Click here to see which ones in the series are still available.

illustration friday (grounded)

March 11, 2011. Japan. The day ships were grounded on the tops of tall buildings.

the dilemma

Seahorses. "Moving Forward"

Sprouting Water Chestnuts. "Hope Sprouts"

Flying Daruma Kite with Issa haiku.

Dragon fruit

Every year I write about nengajou (Japanese New Year postcards) traditions on this blog, but I never thought to mention that tradition prohibits a certain group of people from participating in this annual exchange. These are the people who are in ritual mourning due to the loss of a family member during the year preceding the New Year's Day in question. Instead, about a month before New Year's Day, they send totally unadorned cards to their friends and business associates explaining why they will not be sending out nengajou, and which of their family has passed away.

Because of the tremendous devastation and loss of life resulting from the March 11 disasters, the whole nation was (and continues to be) in mourning. At the end of 2011, there was a lot of discussion, in private and in the media, about whether nengajou should be sent out at all, even if one hadn't actually lost a family member. It was generally agreed that it would be okay for nengajou to be exchanged among those who had not lost a family member. However, in deference to those who had suffered loss, people exchanging cards should avoid certain phrases that were overly joyful or congratulatory.

I listened to these discussions with only half my attention, because the boundary between acceptable and non-acceptable phrases seemed a bit too subtle for me to take seriously. And besides, the same arguments had gone on all year regarding whether it was proper to enjoy cherry blossom-viewing or summer festivals with fireworks or any number of fun things, while so many people in our country were suffering such enormous pain and sorrow. Opinions were always sharply divided, even among those who were the most severely affected.

Nevertheless, when the time came to chose the words to go on my etegami nengajou, I did ponder on this matter, and rather than using words like Happy, Joyful, or Celebrate, I chose words like Hope and Moving Forward. Not because I am overly concerned with propriety, but because if my choice of words can cause either pain or comfort, I would rather they cause comfort.　

The etegami I've posted above are some of the ones I painted as this year's nengajou. I blogged about the dragon etegami a few months ago. If you missed it and would like to see it, click here.

tomo anthology to assist teens

TOMO, an anthology of short stories with particular relevance to teens, will be released this coming March from Stone Bridge Press. Its aim is to bring Japanese stories to readers worldwide, and in doing so, to help support young people affected or displaced by the March 11, 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami. Proceeds from the sales of this book will go directly toward long-term relief efforts for teens in northeast Japan, the area most affected by the disasters.

My translation of the Ainu folktale, "Where the Silver Droplets Fall," accompanied by two simple etegami-style drawings, is included in this book. As one of the contributors to the anthology, I was interviewed on the TOMO blog. In the interview, I share a bit of my personal background and what led to my becoming a translator of Ainu folklore. But more importantly, it gives a glimpse into the life of Chiri Yukie, one Ainu teenager who struggled to value herself and her cultural heritage, at a time when both were despised by mainstream society. By the time she died of heart failure at the tender age of nineteen, she had become a forerunner of a movement to save her people's oral tradition from oblivion. Click here to read the interview.

museum exhibits my earthquake etegami

The "Humanizing the Quake" series, which I painted to work out my anguish after the disasters that assailed Japan on March 11.... (gosh, I still can't type those words without bursting into tears...), is currently on display at the Bolduc House Museum in Ste.Genevieve, Missouri (USA). The exhibit will continue till early February. It's part of an extensive, historical, earthquake-related exhibit. (click image to enlarge) Printed postcards of my etegami are for sale at the Museum Shop. Proceeds from the sale of these postcards will be used to help Japanese families who were forced to relocate as a result of the tsunami.

One of the images in this series was used for the "We're All Connected" T-shirt, the proceeds of which will also be going to support families affected by the 3.11 disasters. The t-shirt comes in many choices of size, style, and color. It's a beautiful, high-quality t-shirt and would make a lovely Christmas gift. : )

stained summits

My first idea for this week's Illustration Friday (topic= "swept") resulted in this etegami. But then I got to wondering if it was too grim. Besides, it needs a lot of explaining, and it really fits better in my "humanizing the quake" series.

It was inspired by the last lines of the Robert Frost poem below (published in 1928, in a collection called West-Running Brook). The poem may or may not have been written in response to the great Misssippi River flood of 1927, which killed and displaced thousands of people. Apparently some of the politics that followed the disaster were quite ugly. Reading about it naturally made me think of the current bickering and power struggles within our Japanese government-- at such a time as this, when unity is so desperately needed for rebuilding the country.

The 3.11 tsunami left stains on the walls of the few buildings it did not destroy or carry away. But I feel that it also left stains on the "summits" of government politics. These stains are not pretty. I don't claim to understand much about Frost's poem, but I was deeply affected by his images of blood, flood waters, and stains.

The Flood

Blood has been harder to dam back than water.

Just when we think we have it impounded safe

Behind new barrier walls (and let it chafe!),

It breaks away in some new kind of slaughter.

We choose to say it is let loose by the devil;

But power of blood itself releases blood.

It goes by might of being such a flood

Held high at so unnatural a level.

It will have outlet, brave and not so brave.

weapons of war and implements of peace

Are but the points at which it finds release.

And now it is once more the tidal wave

That when it has swept by leaves summits stained.

Oh, blood will out. It cannot be contained.

poem by Robert Frost

If you haven't seen the one I finally posted for Illustration Friday, it's here. At least Tolkien fans will love it. :p

illustration friday (soaked)

A rubber-soled, cheap canvas shoe that anyone living in Japan immediately recognizes as the type children use as indoor footwear while at school. The red-rubber tip indicates that its missing owner was a girl. The style and size tell us it was probably worn by a very young child, attending kindergarten or early elementary school. The child most likely came from a rural area where old basics like this are more readily available than trendier styles printed with popular anime characters.

The shoe is soaked with sea water. It was the only thing the tsunami left behind when it took the child. The words translate roughly to: What the tsunami left behind.