Chikyu Greetings - Japanese Bookmark - Traditional Japanese Girls

Chikyu Greetings - Japanese Bookmark - Traditional Japanese Girls

A set of three Japanese-style bookmarks devoted to the warabe figures, the children of traditional Japanese printmaking. Published by Chikyu Greetings, each piece is printed on a gold ground with metallic inks that shift in brightness with the light, and finished with a cord at the top end.

In Japan the bookmark — shiori (栞) — is a small everyday object given a degree of care out of all proportion to its size: it is offered as a gift, collected, and changed according to the season or the book being read. These three carry on that tradition with one of the most endearing motifs in the Japanese repertoire.

Warabe (童) — "little one", "young child" — is a theme with centuries of history in Japanese art. Warabe-e, the print of children, portrays the young in their finest clothes, at play or simply posing, and does so in a highly recognisable visual language: rounded figures, tiny serene faces, hair cut in the okappa style, and brightly coloured kimono with meticulous patterns. It is a genre that seeks not realism but tenderness, and in Japan it is associated with good fortune and with the wish that children grow up healthy.

The three girls in the set wear long-sleeved kimono — the furisode, reserved for great occasions — in red, orange and blue, each in a different pose: one among cherry blossoms, another holding a small object in her hands, and a third with an open folding fan. Against the gold of the background, the kimono patterns and the details of the hair catch the light.

The finish combines metallic printing with fine detailing that gives each bookmark the look of a gift piece rather than a stationery item. They come mounted on a display card bearing the series design, ready to give as they are.

Perfect as a gift for readers, as a souvenir of Japan, or simply to have a set to alternate between books.

About Chikyu Greetings. Chikyu Greetings, based in Asakusabashi (Tokyo), is a Japanese stationery publisher whose "Chikyu" brand goes back to the Meiji era, around 130 years ago. It specialises in greeting cards and paper goods — envelopes, letter paper, pochibukuro, stickers and Japanese-style bookmarks — with a style the company itself describes as basic, warm designs with a touch of whimsy.