horsemouth is back in his normal homestead. it is a cold grey morning (horsemouth is even wearing a jumper as he sits up in bed and types this. ok he has taken it off he was too warm).
horsemouth is up a book about hokusai (and a biography of joe biden entitled yesterday's man) thanks to a front wall book potlatch by two gay dudes (thanks dudes). they emerged from the house while horsemouth was making his selection and then volubly headed off in the direction of town.
the book on hokusai is great. hokusai lived in edo, the new capital of the shogunate (japan's military rulers) rather than the old capital kyoto of the emperor, who remained alive but as a figurehead/ religious leader. edo was perhaps one of the first megacities (with over a million inhabitants by the end of the 17th century).
horsemouth is of course familiar with edo (and the tokugawa shogunate) as a result of his lockdown watching of the tv series of shogun assassin, zatoichi, shinobi no mono and a little concurrent reading.
hokusai drew from an early age. before he worked as an artist he worked as an assistant in a bookshop and trained as a block-cutter. between these two stages there were professional copyists who copied the design and specialist printers who actually did the printing. this division of labour continued until about 1904 when yamamoto kanae started cutting the blocks and pulling the prints himself. edo was the centre of the single print industry, books were more likely to be published in kyoto and osaka.
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yesterday horsemouth went for a coffee with martin (long time no see) and then relocated from where he was staying (the riverside gaff). later he watched a thinly plotted jailbreak movie. whilst in the seaside town of islington he dropped in to the most excellent flashback records and bought a john renbourn compilation (collected).
horsemouth is slightly dreading the appearance of any songs he might recognise. he's enjoying the careful mix of acoustic and electric guitars.
it is the fourth anniversary of horsemouth and hoard's duo gig just off brick lane four years ago.
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