“Gaifu-kaisei (Fine Wind, Clear Morning)” and “Kanagawa-oki Namiura (The Great Wave)” would be printed on leather for the 1st variants. Hokusai is the original designer for those ukiyoe. Woodblocks are essencial to Ukiyoe. PAIRSLOPE’s leather Ukiyoe is printed by woodblocks engraved by both laser with modern technologies and hand traditionally. Some of you have a question here…Why don’t you use only woodblocks engraved by hand ? The pressure for printing with woodblock on leather is much higher than on paper. Thus woodblocks engraved by hand only would break easily when printing on leather. The depth of engraving is also important to print Ukiyoe on leather. Leather Ukiyoe cannot be completed without those mixed engraving methods. For your information, when printing “The Great Wave” on leather, we print 7 times with 6 woodblocks. Engraved edge has 0.2mm width and this is narrower than 0.5mm lead of mechanical pencil. Wild cherry blossom wood is used for woodblocks. Hard and durable. Not only special woodblocks but special leather also has to be prepared for Ukiyoe. Existing leather that PAIRSLOPE has been used cannot be used for Ukiyoe, so we have to ask leather processing for this. We took 10 months to complete our Ukiyoe leather even with special leather and woodblocks. More than 1 year taking into account woodblock creation. Then we created bags with Ukiyoe leather and tested durability…how long did it take actually ? There are only about 10 suri-shi in Japan as their occupation as of now. Only 1 suri-shi can print Ukiyoe on leather …that is Shun Yamamoto. Ukiyoe suri-shi Shun Yamamoto 山本 駿 ・Birthday: 7/12/1985 Resident: Ohta, Tokyo ・Experience Worked for The Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints after graduating Tama Art University. Became independent Suri-shi after 5 years in the institute. Public demonstrations of Ukiyoe printing around museums in Japan and overseas including Slovenia, San Francisco and New York. Developed new technology of engraving using laser. Creating new woodcut printing based on the background of original woodcut designer and traditional woodblock craftsman. He works not only on the reproduction Ukiyoe, designed by Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro and Sharaku but also on so called modern Ukiyoe designed by Hasui Kawase, with difficult multiple colors Ukiyoe. But the most difficult Ukiyoe with the longest time to take is…Ukiyoe on leather. Traditional way to make colors mixing pigment from Kyoto. Pressure to print on leather is completely different from on paper. Same pigment but different color between paper (left) and leather (right) Printing status can be confirmed with pigment behind paper but this is not the case in leather. Leather Ukiyoe needs full understanding of every woodblock edge. One ukiyoe on leather can be done with 7 woodblocks for few days. He fully focuses on printing but after that, he smiles with his accomplishments. About 90% printing Ukiyoe on Washi would be succeeded even by Shun, success rate doesn’t reach at 100%. When on leather, this rate becomes around 60%. This is because leather has invisible elasticities and wrinkles. More risks exist on natural materials. * No sales of leather itself with Ukiyoe * Ukiyoe printed on Washi using same woodblocks for leather is in sale. Please see the bottom of this page. Ukiyoe printed on leather turns into a leather bag at PAIR SLOPE Meotozaka atelier. It is possible to creating bags with leather, not Japanese paper, Washi. PAIR SLOPE Meotozaka atelier 5 craftsmen are creating leather jackets, bags and so on at Meotozaka atelier on the second floor of the flagship of PAIR SLOPE with their synergy. Crafting Ukiyoe goods is one of the most difficult and special things for them. The leather Ukiyoe printed has around 0.5mm thickness, thus we have to take care of stitches. We are also focusing on not to put a single oil of sawing machine during creating Ukiyoe goods. Our 5 craftsmen of course can create bags but only 2 of them allow to create Ukiyoe bags. We use plastic covers to protect Ukiyoe leather. Made by PAIR SLOPE Meotozaka atelier NAMIURA…Official name: The Great Wave off Kanagawa Durable cow leather and precise stitches Shoulder belt with adjustable length The flap can be removed with hooks Good size for A4 documents with 2 pockets. [Ukiyoe leather BSH-Namiura] ▪Printed by Shun Yamamoto ▪Crafted by PAIR SLOPE Meotozaka atelier ▪Materials: Outer - Cow leather / Inner - Cow, pig, cotton and nylon / Belt - Cow / Ukiyoe leather ▪Color: Dark blue ▪Size: 260 x 340 x 120mm 2 belts available for your height: 160-180cm and 170-190cm *Please inform us if you are out of ranges above. ▪Price: 130,000JPY (143,000JPY Tax included) ▪It might take around 1-3 months to making a bag due to its small production ▪Only flaps is available: 48,000JPY (52,800JPY Tax included) ("Aka-fuji " will be on sale. Tax exemption available for purchases made at Pairslope Shops in Japan. Special online shop for Ukiyoe >> [Ukiyoe on Washi (Japanese traditional paper) NAMIURA] ▪Printed by Shun Yamamoto ▪The same woodblocks are used as Ukiyoe leather ▪Washi: made by Ichibei Iwano, the Living National Treasure ▪Size: 200 x 290mm (Ukiyoe: 181 x 272mm) ▪Price: 9,000JPY (9,900JPY Tax included) * No plans for additional prints ▪"Aka-fuji " will be planned. Tax exemption available for purchases made at Pairslope Shops in Japan. Special online shop for Ukiyoe >> [ Infomation ] ・A very few lots for BSH bags. It takes longer than other gears. ・Color of bags and stitched can be chosen if you visit our shop. (Additional from 20,000JPY) << Back