David Bull is as insistent as he is stubborn. No sooner has he sat me down beside his workbench (the only warm room in the house), with younger daughter Fumi (16) creating a Web page on the computer on top of the "kotatsu," then he is demanding how much I know about "hanga" (woodblock prints).
"Hanga were never made to be framed and hung on walls," he states. "Premodern Japan had no such tradition. Prints were objects, not images, to be looked at in natural light. The best way for the art of the craftsman to be appreciated is in your hands, at a window."
From Jan. 17 to 22 at Tokyo's Gallery Shinjuku Takano (for the 10th time), he will show prints covering the last 13 years. One room will exhibit hanga from his famed "Hyakunin Isshu" series -- reproductions of Katsukawa Shunsho's portraits created to illustrate "waka" poems. The other will show prints from his "Surimono Album" series, including those sold by subscription (just 6,000 yen monthly) during 2001, and taking orders for this year.