Kirei Desu Yo

My first post in rather a while, and a short one to boot.

My girlfriend and I visited the London Graphic Centre last week, an expensive stationery shop staffed by very accomodating supermodels whose environs probably last rang to the last sounds of the fading bleats of slaughtered livestock. I tried out a label maker.

In the bargain bin, for a pound each, we picked up an intriguing little set known as tatebanko, a supposedly “lost” art of Japanese paper diorama. I have often wondered how Japan maintains such a rich cultural tradition surrounding paper when it has a tiny beard of arable land around its coast. 

The piece fit together with tabs and glue, much like any other, and the set that we bought offered two views of Mount Fuji from Hokusai’s series 36 Views Of Mount Fuji. Being an artist, my girlfriend finished hers in around two hours, and it looks exactly the same as the ones of the website. Being a troll, mine has taken nearly a week and looks a little like a brick of sticky polystyrene fuelled by incandescent rage.

The effect is nice, however - the forced bending of various tensile pieces - the mountains itself, for example - brings a nice perspective to the diorama at whichever angle you view it, and the job of building it is a fraught yet oddly peaceful activity. 

Please be warned, however - if you purchase a pair, as we did, be prepared to exchange no further words than increasingly complex and esoteric “swear” that challenge sense and biology.

You will stick your fingers to Fuji, and it will bring a little peace.

Tatebanko Homepage (In Japanese)