Chemistry and Art Lessons After Breakfast

Within the past few weeks, Hiromi wished to weigh out a small amount of rock salt.  I envisioned him using our digital scale, tested and certified for use in sales.  This scale is accurate to one-hundredth of a pound, or is accurate to fractions of a gram, and we used it for produce.  But no.  "For this I'm using my balance scale.  It's more accurate."  He needed 8.4 grams of salt.

Hiromi proceeded to retrieve a small battered cardboard box from the study, from which he extracted a metal scale covered in blue plastic.  From a smaller wooden box inside the cardboard box, with a tongs he fished out several very tiny weights and placed them in one of the "saucers" on the scale.  Then he began to add rock salt crystals to the saucer at the other end of the balance "beam."

"I've had this for more than 55 years," Hiromi said.  "I bought it when I was in the fifth grade--for my chemistry projects."

"Did you really pay for it with your own money?"

"Of course I did--from my monthly allowance.  I had to save to buy it."

"What kind of projects did you do?"

"I made  black powder."

"What did you use that for?"

"Making a model rocket.  The  black powder was for launching it."

"Did it work?"

"Not really."

"What did you use for a tube?"

"That was the problem.  I used an aluminum tube.  It melted when I launched it."

After a thinking pause:  "I could have burned my Daddy's house down.  I had my chemistry set on a little table top right next to a paper shoji screen.  When I was heating the carbon, sulfur and potassium chloride together for the black powder, the flame licked up the sides and ignited the chemicals.  It was just a big flash, so it didn't really burn anything."

After another thinking pause:  "I'm glad my mom didn't throw this scale away.  I got it out of her storage building when we went to Japan.  She didn't save my book of Hiroshige paintings though.  I loved his paintings, and I bought a big book that had his paintings in it."

"What did he paint?"

"Well, the ones that are the most famous are 53 scenes he saw along the road from Kyoto to Tokyo.  There are 53 towns along this road, and he painted a scene from each town."

"Are you familiar with any of the towns?  Could you recognize any of the scenes?"

"Oh, no.  He did this hundreds of years ago."  Minor detail he had neglected to mention.  "I think I have a smaller book about his paintings."  Sure enough.  After another trip to the study, he produced a book which he showed me.

"Here's a scene about the daimyos (warlords).  Every three years they had to take an enormous group of people to Edo (modern Tokyo) to do any jobs the shogun (overlord) assigned them.  That's how he kept power.  It involved enormous expense and was a huge undertaking.  This picture shows part of a group like that."

I checked ebay to see if Hiroshige Ando prints are offered for sale there.  I came across the print Hiromi had explained.  It was apparently part of a complete collection of the 53 Stages of the Tokkaido, and was purchased by the previous owner in 1884.  At least I think that's what this means:  Yes description of the purchase in 1884 is the previous owner.   It was listed by "an online antiquarian bookstore in Tokyo, Japan" at a price of $3,499.99.  The note on the item's condition said this:  “The hole vacancy according a few to a worm-eaten spot,A part of binding portion has broken.”  If you decide to purchase this print, it will be shipped free from Japan.

If you look up the ebay listing, be sure to read the details near the bottom--Japanese to English translation at its most humorous, definitely done with dictionary in hand rather than a native-English-speaking person at hand.  (Example:  A thing with old goods of our shop takes the lead.)

The Hiroshige paintings are woodblock prints, done with amazing precision.    The outstanding feature of the prints is the composition, using mostly simple lines.  The print Hiromi chose to explain to me might have been the busiest of all the paintings.  The color is spare, with each print using only a few, mostly muted, colors.

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I'm delighted with a quirky detail about the artist whose first name is Hiroshige.  His given name combines the first two syllables of Hiromi's first name with the last two syllables of his last name.  No wonder Hiromi feels a kinship with this artist.