tanzaku (Edt of 100)

Miho Kajioka
tanzaku (Edt of 100)

Photographs: Miho Kajioka

Publisher: Self published

Year: 2021

Comments: 3 leporello books (272 x 85 mm) in wooden box (410 x 300 mm). Signed and numbered of 100 copies.

'You should try to make a Tanzaku sized print' A Japanese architect told me so.

Tanzaku are small vertical poem cards that originated from the 14th century.

'In Japan, there are certain dimensional standards for many things, such as kimono, tatami mat, kakejiku (hanging scrolls) and many things in Japanese architecture. It will not work if they are a bit bigger or smaller. Those dimensions makes things perfectly beautiful and that is why those dimensions stays as they are for hundreds of years. The Tanzaku size is one of them, and I think it is because this size has some kind of magical effect to make things look perfectly beautiful.' And so the architect explained, and told me that my picture would look best in this size.

I tried and he was right.

-Miho Kajioka