I
am indebted to IMAI Kiyoshi for his many helpful comments. I offer
his suggestions and corrections here, so that readers will have
immediate access to the most accurate information.
Sewn
style
1. Daifuko cho - Daifuku
History
chart
1. Azuchi-Momoyama period
Toyotome - Toyotomi. I'm wondering you are actually talking about
Nobunaga Oda who was the first shogun of this period.
2. Edo or Tokugawa period
Tokugawa
Ieyasu Tokugawa is the surname and Ieyasu is the given name. (Azuchi-Momoyama)
Hideyoshi Toyotomi - Toyotomi is the surname and Hideyoshi is
the given name. The Japanese names begin with surname followed
by given name. Examples go like these; Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi
Hideyoshi. But when we visit overseas, we switch around to confuse
the westerners. How about writing their names like this?
"Ieyasu Tokugawa" or "TOKUGAWA, Ieyasu".
Ikegami is the surname and Kojiro is the given name. So it goes
like "Kojiro Ikegami' or "IKEGAMI, Kojiro". My
name is "IMAI, Kiyoshi".
3.
Edo… Bakafu - Bakufu
4.
Edo… tent headquarters
Does it mean something like a command headquarters on the battlefield?
Wrong! Bakufu actually means the government under shogun's military
dictatorship, separated from the emperor's government, which was
not functioning during these periods.
Discussion
1. Yotsume toji
Yotsume toji is also called "Fukuro toji",
which means Pouch binding. I think more bibliographers call it
in this way.
2. Daifuku cho, structure
'The paper from which… the half again in the opposite direction.'
- Whole signature should be folded together instead of sheet by
sheet, or the spine fold forms an awkward shape.
3. Daifuku cho, Application
'Traditional Japanese paper…has no grain direction.' - Traditional
Japanese paper always has uniform grain direction. Paper maker's
mould is attached to two wires hanging from ceiling and this makes
allow mould to move only back and force directions. For the result,
every fiber on the paper mould lines up to same direction and
forms the grain direction. This is unique in the Japanese papermaking.
However the pulp in usual Japanese paper is not dense as western
papers and the grain direction is usually not so obvious.
4. Daifuku cho, Application
'The grain direction in the sample book is parallel to the spine'
- Every book should be bound in this manner any way and this should
be mentioned in the 'structure' section.
5. Hantori cho, Structure
'A strip of the cover material (…) with a width of 30mm
+ the thickness…' - Ikegami's book says 20mm but his original
publication in Japanese says 18mm. I think 30mm is a bit too long
and I'd rather use 18 ~ 20mm.
6. Hantori cho, Structure
'the covers should be the height of the book, and the length the
same as the width of the book + the thickness of the section +
15mm.' - This 15mm is mentioned in Ikegami's English version.
The original Japanese version mentions no excess length, just
the length of the width of the book + the thickness of the section.
I would add some excess length but not long as 15mm. I would add
probably 3~5mm, so it has no risk of the white paper of the text
block peeking through spine of the book and it minimizes building
up of the spine thickness. In fact, I would prepare the covers
oversize to the every direction and trim the extras after attached
them to the signatures.
7. Hantori cho, Structure
'Two pairs of holes are punched through…sewn together using
short length of hemp cord…' - Ikegami's Japanese book says
to use linen thread.
8. Hantori cho, Illustration
on sewing
I don't think to sew this book with the front and back signatures
wide-open works. The position on the fold of each sheet in the
signature shifts by opening it. When the signature was closed,
the fold of each sheet lines up horizontally. With the signature
open, the fold of each sheet lines up vertically. This becomes
more obvious with the thicker signature. If the book was sewn
with this position (wide-open), these signatures won't close properly.
To avoid this to happen, I would hold half of outer signatures
and inner signature together using a paper clip. Try not open
outer signatures all the way.
The outer half of lower signature can be hang from the edge of
the table, so this would be opened only half way. The other end
of the outer pages can be kept half-open by resting on your chest
while sewing.
9. Retchoso, Structure
'Unlike a Western multisection book, the retchoso is
stitched through holes in the sections but through small, lateral
slits;' - I don't like sewing through slits. A part of the beauty
of Retchoso, I think, is the sewing exposed at the spine. The
sewing sinks under the signatures and becomes invisible when the
book was sewn through the slits. Another problem is; the signatures
won't be held securely in place, they stay wiggle particularly
the outer signatures when the book was sewn this way. I don't
think the opening of the book is a problem if the book was sewn
through the holes, even the pages were made of text-weight machine-made
paper. I think it works better to punch holes on each signature
and sew through the holes.
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