Beginning with Japan’s industrialization in the late 19th century, the paper industry and related companies converged in urban centres across the country. In the eastern Tokyo ward of Kōtō, one such company is Shinohara Shiko, a family-run bookbinding factory that has been cutting, folding, and binding paper to make books and magazines for almost fifty years….

Ukiyo-e gradually became the dominant Japanese art form following a devastating fire that was also the birth of Tokyo. The West underwent a similar transformation almost simultaneously According to legend, sometime during the first half of the fifteenth century in Edo, Japan, a young girl came into possession of a kimono. This would not be…

Karakami is woodblock printed ornamental paper displaying patterned motifs and designs with ancient significance for decorative applications to walls and sliding screens. This video follows two skilled artisans who are using collections of woodblocks carved over past times as well as original designs to bring this artform into contemporary use and consciousness. Video : https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/2029154/

Things were different at our recent 10 Day Tokiwa Gallery! Silly! Quirky! Unexpected! Laughable! and Surprising! Starting with a SPECTACULAR SHISHI MAI DANCE performed by Father and Son who live in the neighborhood. Son, an evolved and accomplished 40 year old Down’s Syndrome artist, was the head. Father was the tail. Their teamwork, punctuated by…

No matter how much a woman enjoys lovemaking, it has to be fit in around the more mundane activities of life, whether that be cooking, child rearing or work. It therefore seems appropriate that a new exhibition examining the lives of Japanese women as pictured in ukiyo-e paintings and prints, originally envisioned as a show…