Translator Reviews ( Japanese → English )

Japanese

歌川広重（安藤広重）の名画「東海道五十三次」をモチーフにして、五十三次を全て（始点、終点合わせて五十五枚）型紙に手彫りで彫り上げ、一枚ずつ奉書紙に貼り、折本（おりほん）仕立てで一冊にまとめた作品です。多色版画をもとにしながら、一色だけの型紙で情景を伝えるデザイン・アレンジの冴えと柄と柄を繋いでいく独特の意匠、鋭い小刀で直線を生み出す引彫り、小さな丸い穴で色とボカシを表現する錐彫り、これらの伝統の技法を駆使して月日をかけて起こした伊勢型紙の素晴らしい手彫りの味わいを御堪能下さい

English

This folding art book is created based on the famous “Fifty-three Stages of the Tokaido” by Utagawa Hiroshige, or Ando Hiroshige, illustrating all the 53 relay stations and 2 stages of its starting and ending points on Tokaido (55 stages in total). All the stages are carved on paper patterns by hand and lined onto fine-quality white Japanese papers. You will see the high skills in design arrangement altering Utagawa’s polychromous works to single-color paper works and the unique design to connect patterns. You will also find meticulous carving skills such as straight lines carved by sharp chisels (line carvings), and design patterns made with small holes to express colors and vignettes (round carving). This art book surely shows you the gorgeous works of handmade Ise paper pattern which takes enormous time to prepare and is only realized by harnessing all the traditional skills of the art.