Patron Hunt

Ginko Hanga is Taran Eden Casey who is 27 years old and undergoing a full apprenticeship in mokuganga studying under one of the last remaining true masters left in the world. The 9th generation carver, Motoharu Asaka of Takumi Hanga. They are at the beginning of a 10 year(++) apprenticeship and although they have a long way to go, their goal is to reach as close to the old masters as they can in their lifetime. They want to protect this beautiful art form and promote it into the future so that generations from now will be able to experience and learn techniques that have been honed over hundreds of years of development. The process of becoming a professional carver through a traditional apprenticeship is a long process. In order to get good enough to carve ukiyoe landscapes it could take 5-7 years and in order to reach the highest level to be able to carve the hairline on courtesan prints, at least ten years. there is an extremely high skill cap to produce works of a standard acceptable to the master to sell. Because of this in the early years of an apprenticeship, the apprentices are earning no money for the studio and only costing money to the master and therefore they receive no monetary stipends from the master in the beginning. In the words of their shisho (master) ‘From a modern perspective it is hard to see how the traditional system could be workable in our contemporary economy and attract new people, but on the other hand. from the artisans perspectives, it is very difficult to imagine learning this hard-earned skill any other way.’ They are still currently working a full time job in Japan and their hours in the studio are currently limited to late evenings, weekends and holiday. They are looking for the help of their patreon backers to help them transition over the coming years from full time, to part time and eventually to working exclusively in the studio. As a carver their work will be focused in traditional reproductions but, as a reward for their patreon backers they will be producing prints of their own design from start to finish which will not be sold anywhere else. They have many big ideas for the future of their career in mokuhanga. They would like to produce videos showing techniques, tips and interviews with the artisans still working in this field in Japan so that they may store their teachings for many years to come. They will be making these videos with their good friend Yuta, and they are working hard to contact craftsmen and produce samples and their first episodes. However until they have more free time, more funds to buy equipment for producing high quality videos and a reputation, these projects are simply not possible but in time they will get there.

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