Wendi Bradshaw – ‘The beauty of the orihon’ – Japanese concertina book

Currently I’m making orihon, which I thought may interest you, as they are rather unique and beautiful – and tricky to purchase from anywhere other than online. I was introduced to orihon – beautiful, handy ‘concertina’ styled books – on a trip to Japan, where many locals and tourists use them to collect ‘eki stamps’, a highly popular tourist pastime. The idea is that a unique, coloured rubber stamp is kept at every tourist place/ rail station/ airport/ museum (and many other buildings and gardens) to be stamped into the visitor’s notebook or orihon. Essentially, eki stamps are collectible as mementos, and the orihon serves as a passport of visitation proof.

Yet, I have discovered that the beauty and utility of the orihon is manyfold. Being of concertina format, after one side is used (or stamped) the book can be reversed, to continue stamping on the back pages too. Importantly for an artist like myself, who also does collage, painting, drawing, photography, and collects all kinds of ephemera/ textile swatches/ knitting squares and such, the concertina format allows what I term ‘compact expansion’ – the ability to paste stuff in, without the book bulging. Orihon have a firm front and back cover and are held secure with an elastic or paper belt.