Hello from Japan
We are a ICHIROYA's Affiliate Shop-Art Garage.
We have listed some Japanese books today.

We'll introduce one of them you might be interested in.
Brilliance and Romance of Gold Leaf Sayoko Eri
About this book,please see the following page.
http://www.japanese-book.com/item/list2/52141/

It a rare exhibiton catalogue of Eri Sayoko,a Living national Treasure.Fortunately,it is written both in Japanese and in English.

The English foreword to this book says,"Sayoko Eri was born in kyoto in 1945.After learning Japanese painting at school,she married a buddhist sculptor,Kosei Eri.She began making Kirinkane embelishments for the Buddhist images created by her husband and gradually expanded the range of her Kirikane artwork to include original works created to bring many people in contact with the beauty of Kirikane."

What is Kirikane?

The technique of Kirikane ,which developed as part of Buddhism art,is also know as Hosokane.Several fine,thin sheets of gold foil are placed on top of one another and stuck together by heat into a thicker sheet.It is cut on top of a piece of buck skin with a bamboo knife into fine strips or into pieces of round ,diamond or triangular shape.These gold strips and pices are glued on to describe various patterns and designs by using a brush tip.

We are happy if you visit our online store.
You might be able to find some interesting Japanese books there.
http://www.japanese-book.com/