I am also taking this opportunity to present my largest-ever woodblock, done in a more sosaku-hanga (creative print) style; Ura Hannya (Behind the Hannya Mask). I have employed a full sheet of washi paper, so the print is approximately 97 x 67cm, and is a jigsaw print, where the large colour areas are cut from one block of wood rather than multiple blocks. It has hand-colouring in the tattoo, and is against a gold mica ground to simulate gold leaf. I needed a great deal of help from Hara Takayuki, my assistant, to print such a large piece, and in recognition of this, I asked him to title the prints in the bottom margin, while I signed and numbered them from an edition of only 20.While the standard print shows the subject nude, I have also made a version with fundoshi (traditional underwear) in chine colle, for those who don't want the figure to be quite so exposed!
