Inga Eičaitė – Emakimono

These are three separate workshops led by graphic artist Inga Eičaitė: emakimono, kakejiku and yotsume toji. Each workshop runs separately – you can find their descriptions below.

Emakimono (Jp. 絵巻物) / kansubon (Jp. 巻子本) is a traditional parchment or silk scroll used in Japan since the 8th century to convey legends or historical events, combining calligraphy and illustration. Because emakimono lets images unfold continuously along a single flowing line, these scrolls are considered a kind of forerunner to animation.

During the workshop we invite you to become a bookbinder and make your own small emakimono, which you can later fill with stories or drawings dear to you. For the covers we'll use Japanese katazome paper from the Awagami paper mill in Yoshinogawa.

Inga Eičaitė will guide you through the subtleties of making emakimono throughout the whole process – a member of the East London Printmakers studio and the People of Print collective, a graphic artist who has lived and worked between Vilnius and London for many years, blending classic printmaking with mokuhanga, the traditional Japanese woodblock print, object art and bookbinding.

Traditional Japanese hanging scrolls, kakejiku (Jp. 掛軸), carry deep symbolic meaning – they are not just wall decoration: the host of a home chooses the scroll according to the season, the occasion or the guest, conveying a subtle message or wish. Kakejiku are usually displayed in the tokonoma (Jp. 床の間), the alcove of a traditional Japanese-style room and the main aesthetic and spiritual focal point of the home.

During the festival workshop you'll have the chance to make a blank kakejiku, which will serve as a decorative frame for your changing drawings and calligraphy. For the body we'll again use Japanese katazome paper from the Awagami paper mill in Yoshinogawa.

Yotsume toji (Jp. 四つ目綴じ), the "four-hole" stab binding, is one of the simplest and most popular East Asian bookmaking crafts, which grew popular as people sought more efficient alternatives to traditional scrolls. During the Edo period, four main decorative variants developed – four-stitch, noble, tortoiseshell and hemp-leaf bindings – all using the same stab-binding principle but with extra holes and more elaborate stitching to create unique geometric patterns.

Using an awl, thread and needle, during the workshop you'll bind a small book by hand using the Japanese bookbinding method and try more decorative designs you can later apply in your own work. For the covers we'll again use Japanese katazome paper from the Awagami paper mill in Yoshinogawa.

All three workshops – emakimono, kakejiku and yotsume toji – are led by graphic artist Inga Eičaitė.