Ogres +++

Sydney will be giving a presentation on the  scrolls at the Chester Beatty Library 1pm Thursday 15th October 2015. Meanwhile, here is a short video detailing some of the work involved in the conservation of "The Ogres of Oeyama"

 

The "Damsels for Dinner"exhibition featuring the Ogres is proving very popular with Summer visitors to the Library and we are delighted that they can now be exhibited once more.

"Damsels for Dinner"

Peace and tranquility have returned to Mount Oe and at last the young ladies of Kyoto can now sleep safely without fear of being kidnapped and eaten by Shuten Doji and his entourage.......

Scroll 1 before conservation

.............and after conservation

It's been a fascinating journey and without question featured more blood loss (not ours!) than any other project we've thus far encountered. Hunt followers are most welcome to visit the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin where the Ogres of Oeyama scrolls will feature in the "Damsels for Diner" exhibition from June 21st 2015 until 31st January 2016 . 

see you in Dublin !

Excellent interest !

Ambassador Neary joining the hunt

As the hunt for the Ogres of Oeyama is coming to its conclusion we were very pleased to be able to share the project with his Excellency Ambassador Neary from the Irish Embassy in The Hague. He was previously based in the Irish Embassy in Tokyo and was keen to see the conserved handscrolls and maintain his interest in Japanese culture.

Crushed

There were many different ways that Japanese paper was treated or worked to adapt it for a variety of purposes. One of these was the way of crushing mulberry papers to give what is now know as "crepe"paper. This was very popular for both woodblock prints and childrens books. In an earlier post we mentioned the books- chirimenbon.(November 2012)

The technique for crushing the paper seems to have involved a machine like the one below.

  

Sheets of paper were first dampened and interleaved with textured sheets of paper to introduce the creasing. These were wrapped vertically around the post before being crushed down the rod. The sheets would be removed, and smoothed out before being repositioned and the process repeated.

A simplified way of crushing paper which was traditionally used to wrap scrolls is detailed below (useful tip in the season of gift giving !)

Wrap a thin sheet of paper tightly around a wooden ruler

Push the paper firmly down the ruler starting at the bottom

Smooth out the finished sheet........

As we begin the Year of the Sheep we would like to wish everyone a peaceful and rewarding 2015