Woodblock Wednesday - new term, new block

For the first class of term, various inspirational books were scattered round the room, including Hiroshige's Shoal of Fishes -

 I had my design ready to trace (using carbon paper) -

but about halfway through, I noticed that it was being traced right way up rather than flipped over, so that it would print right way up. Duh, rub it out and start again - but the carbon-paper lines wouldn't rub out, so I used dots to mark the lines that needed cutting, not the conventional way of doing it, but it makes sense to me!

At the end of the class, a little bit of cutting had been done -

I'm hoping to have it ready to proof in the next class.

In her talk on the cultural background to traditional woodblock prints Carol showed an arresting image -

A daimyo's procession to Edo (via)

During the Tokugawa period (1600-1868), the landholders (the lords of the samurai) from all parts of the country were required by the shogun (the mi;itary leader of the state) to live in the capital for part of the year, and their close family were held there for the rest of the year as "hostages" to ensure loyalty to the shogun.