moku hanga clip

The wonderful things you can find on youtube - it's endless! I found this cute 4 min 30 sec video with a young Japanese woman demonstrating the moku hanga (Japanese style woodblock printing) printmaking method. She's in a cramped little studio space like all the printmakers I visited in Kyoto work in. They use every inch of space and sit on the floor when they print just likes she's doing.

There's one quirky bit in the video I really like. About halfway through you'll see her lift the baren (round printing disc) to her face which is offscreen. She's doing something which I was also taught to do but often surprises people the first time they see it (and clearly surprises her guests as they all start talking about it). She's wiping the bamboo leaf covered baren across her face or in her hair to get oil from her body onto the dry bamboo leaf. This lubricates the leaf before it rubs across the back of the damp paper she's printing with. Her visitors start talking in quite an animated manner at this point and you'll hear the Japanese word 'abura' repeated which means 'oil' as she explains what she's doing. So cute! Enjoy.