temporary exhibition

Western-style type was introduced to Japan in the latter half of the 19th century, but simply imitating the Western punch method of sculpting and then inscribing letters to make a mold proved to be inadequate for the task of creating type for finely detailed Japanese characters, which can require as many as 20 or more strokes to be written. Shozo Motoki was one of the printers at the time who succeeded in creating a type production method that suited the requirements of reproducing Japanese characters. This exhibition introduces Shozo Motoki and the method that he invented for manufacturing type.