12 original 1973 Katazome Mingei Calendar Prints - Takeshi Nishijima for Wazome Craft

This a complete set of 12 Kataezome Mingei block prints made for a 1973 Japanese calendar in their original packaging. Printed in Japan by Takeshi Nishijima for Wazome Craft Printer.

These calendars were made for the Western market, these postwar calendars were produced using stencils, paste resist and natural dyes. The paper-dyeing technique was developed by Serizawa and others from traditional methods used to produce hand-patterned fabrics. Primarily textile artists, Serizawa and Nishijima were part of the Mingei (Folk Art) movement, a 20th century effort to preserve and revive traditional Japanese handcrafts displaced by industrialization.

These calendars came from the estate of a family that owned a Japanese import shop here in Seattle from the 1950s into the 1970s

The prints are in their original rice paper sleeve