Kintaro Wrestling a Koi by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) is perhaps the most influential Ukiyo-e designer used as reference in Irezumi. This particular print, depicting the young Kintaro (Golden Boy) wrestling a black Koi, is fairly uncommon in publications on Kuniyoshi. It caught my client Peter's attention immediately and I agreed it was perfect for his backpiece.

Kintaro Irezumi Full Back About to be Completed.

Last week we covered so much of the remaining shading and coloring on Peter's Kintaro that we feel confident to be able to finnish it of in one single blow.
This friday at 18.00 we embark on what is hopefully the final stage of a journey that has been very exiting during this last year. If everything goes according to plan, saturday morning will be a splendid one.

Story of the 108 Heroes of the Horimatsu Suikoden Almost Told.

Emanuel's back is almost completed now. Very exiting! This piece holds a lot of detail that takes quite some time to create. We're aiming for a by-christmas-finnish.

Knight

(click image to enlarge)
A quick doodle this afternoon just for a change of pace - and a chance to try out some new brushes.

Painful.

This is on the train back from Nara to Kyoto on the last night before returning to Horiyoshi III in
Yokohama. Alex had fallen asleep and the train car was almost empty. There was a peacefulness and a sense of completion at that precise moment. I felt a tremendous ache and a terrible loss, longing for things that could not be had. My eyes followed the setting sun as it slowly chrashed into the green fields.

It was one of the most beautiful moments I have ever experienced, and I carry it with me in everything I do after that.

Missing.

Some of the old photographs of my work will return once in a while, but mainly I will only post new Irezumi images when a piece or planned portion (leg, back, sleeve etc) is completed. And of course there will be exeptions to this rule, as there usually are many exeptions to almost every rule imaginable.

Kofuu-Senju Publications Launches Horiyoshi III Book Project.

Horikitsune-San (Alexander Reinke) and Myself has formed a new publishing company in order to produce and publish the books on Irezumi that we feel have not yet been made.

Our first project is a book on Horikitsune's Master Horiyoshi III of Yokohama. Many books have been done on his outstanding Irezumi work, but we feel that very little effort has been made to portray the complex man behind the images and tradition.
Horiyoshi III is dedicated to walk the path of The Heart, and thus continues in a tradition whose innovators and guardians feature such names as Hokusai, Yoshitoshi, Tesshu and Kyosai. That is of course not even mentioning the countless army of Painters, Swordmakers, Woodblock print designers and cutters, Horishi, Poets and Playwriters, Zen Masters, Calligraphers and all the previous masters of the Japanese Ways.

The book will be titled "Kokoro" (the Japanese word for heart) and will try to convey some of the strange, powerful and wondrous experiences to be had in the precense of a true Master and Teacher.

The book features photography and words by Horikitsune and Horimatsu, and is planned to be published sometime during next year.

(the above photo of Horiyoshi III is by Horimatsu. Irezumi by Horiyoshi I)

Daido.

As far as photography goes, this is very dear to me at the very moment.

RIP Bernie Fuchs 1932-2009

One of the all time greats.
There's a nice remembrance at one of my favorite blogs here.

Floating World.

Today the Tebori felt light and easy, almost like it had decided to do what I told it to. Of course, nothing is that easy.

The studio has now expanded to twice the size and there's room for studio photograpy and serious painting. Tried my hand at Sumi, brush and paper yesterday. A good start with the exact result expected after one single painting. I will attack it again very soon. It's all in the attack. One second of hesitation leads to death in every possible way imaginable.

I have still not yet arrived fully at this home of mine. The sensation of being a ghost is clear, but my form becomes firmer and more recognizable as the hours pass. I still have Yokohama air in my lungs, Kyoto food on my mind and a terrible longing for the Eheiji floorboards. I suffer in beauty.

(the Irezumi in the photo was created by Horiyoshi I of Yokohama)

Marvels Project #3 Cover

(click image to enlarge)
Over on CBR Ed Brubaker talks about The Marvels Project - featuring a preview of some of the art for issue #3. Click on over and take a look!

Fresh(u).

The last two weeks have been full of steps, whispers, backtracking, forward leaps and japanese cigarettes. My friend Alex Reinke and I finally managed to get our things together and make that trip to Japan we talked about doing together so many years ago.

Alex (Horikitsune) has made the trip back to Yokohama more times than he dares to count or remember. Of my own four previous trips to Japan only one has taken me to Yokohama, and not much further than Yodobashi Camera, a mere stone throw away from the train tracks.

The past fourteen days saw me on the streets of Yokohama, dragging a crazy foot behind me. It saw me in Fukuoka, Kyoto, Nara, Fukui and Tokyo as well. Someplaces new, some not.

Returning home is bittersweet. I am created to live back there, but destiny's put my beloved family right here. Accept and adapt. What can I do?

So it's time to assume the position, shoulder the responsibility, the one thing I knew I had to do.
Needle and Sumi. Patterns of the heart and spirit. I don't even bite my lip as I face it this time.

A change in plans and direction has made me reconsider my future Irezumi work. I will be accepting new clients as of september 14th 2009. Please email with requests to matti@horimatsu.com.

Many Thanks for Your Kind Attention.

The future work on this blog will commence around the same date.

Sketches - Marvels Project

These are just some quick rough sketches that were done while trying to work out some figures in the first couple of issues of The Marvels Project.