Ezo Mamehon 30

Description

This issue of Ezo Mamehon was all about Japanese paper with fifteen paper samples including a stencil dyed sample from the Serizawa Dyeing Laboratory. Articles were provided by paper historian and bibliophile, active in the folk art (mingei) movement, Jugaku Bunshō 寿岳文章 (1900-1992). The cover illustration was created by Sekino Juni'chirō 関野準一郎 (1914-1988).

Originally published in October 1960, the inside of the rear cover indicates that this issue may have been reprinted in 1981 by the Oji Paper Company as a supplement to their quarterly magazine, Kami.

A Recollection from Junpei Sekino

"I remember my father [Sekino Jun’ichirō] spending quite a bit of time on Mamehon productions in the 1950s, often mingling with Takei Takeo and Kawakami Sumio (aka Kawakami Chosei), et al, but he kept his Mamehon collection (comprising tens of them) in several miniature wooden 'Mamehon cabinets.' For some reason, I wasn't enticed to open the attractive cabinets to inspect what were in them, so I have very little memory about his Mamehon. I recalled from your web page, however, that he had sets of wood engraving tools (that were very different from his Japanese woodcutting tools) and smaller and more polished pieces of wood for engraving. I believe he applied wood engraving mainly for Mamehon covers and illustrations.

The model for the girl that appears on the covers of Mamehon 7 and Mamehon 10 is undoubtedly my sister who was only 8 at the time. Interestingly, her appearance became more like the cover picture when she became a little older."[1]

[1] email received May 24, 2022

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Note: transcriptions and their translations below are subject to my error.