Minomura Kou: Congratulations on the launch of Kinbiken Tsuushin

 At a recent workshop with Naka Akira in Copenhagen, he brought as a present to each of the participants a piece of paper with his autograph and a traditional Japanese ”hanko” name-seal. I am not really a collector of autographs, but the piece of paper made me think of the text below, that I commissioned Shiba to translate for me already a year ago or so, but have not shared on the blog yet.

The context of the following short text is this:

As Kinbiken was developing, they started to release also a printed ”magazine” called Kinbiken Tsushin [”Kinbiken Communications”] with texts and photos by the people in the group, but also from friends. I have in my collection an almost complete set 1989–1999 (I am still hunting for example for issue 16, which contains the letter from the model ”Aki”, that plays an important role for Vincent Guilberts movie The Peonys Whisper – see here).

After the premiere issue, the second issue opens with the following congratulatory letter from Minomura Kou to Nureki Chimuo, where Minomura also draws a historical line from his own work, and his mentor Itoh Seiu.

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Minomura Kou: Congratulations on the launch of Kinbiken Tsuushin

Congratulations on the first issue! The card enclosed is a handmade business card [名刺] of my former teacher [恩師] Itoh Seiu. The card was sent to me together with some congratulating words by Sensei when I made a special newsmagazine which was named KK Tsuushin for rope-enthusiasts while I was working for Kitan Club. Later, when I was working hard on Uramado after moving to Tokyo, I had Sensei’s business card present as an amulet. I think of it as an amulet for those working in the field. It’s weird, but through it bad things can get better when you are in trouble. You might not be able to believe it, but I see it as an amulet which has a mysterious spiritual strength when it comes to this field. So, I’m sending it to you, my brother who is standing in the front line of the field in these modern times. The business card is not the original, though. I’m sending you a copy. I can’t give you the original now because I am in the running for a literature award (to which I entered a manuscript which involves SM), and I can’t let go of the amulet until I find out the result. I will give the original to you, my brother, as soon as the result comes out. So, please forgive me sending you the copy. Anyway, this is just a quick note to congratulate. Sorry for the hasty writing. Please edit the text as it suits you and publish it if you wish. Thank you.

Minomura Kou

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Translated by Shiba, commissioned and edited by Bergborg / KinbakuBooks