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Since its inception, the black and white storytelling medium known as manga has been produced by the letterpress, the most primitive method of printing. Even today, Shonen Jump and other manga magazines are created using the letterpress rotary printing method commonly known as katsurin.
However, flatbed letterpress machines, which were once frequently used for proof printing and small print jobs, are rarely in use today. These machines, especially those capable of printing in A2 size, are in very limited operation in Japan and around the world.
Is it possible to take manga, which has always been a medium optimized for letterpress, and turn it into artworks using the highest possible quality of letterpress?
With the help of Kyodo Printing, a company which prints Shonen Jump, we found a working letterpress in Nagano Prefecture, as well as skilled staff who are capable of operating it. Using this German-made Heidelberg printing press from the 1960s, we use high pressure method to print on 100% cotton Gmund Cotton Max White art paper. This method produces a completely unique page surface with a physical effect that is impossible to achieve using offset printing, lithography, or silkscreen printing. Touching the paper makes palpable how the art is embossed into the page.
The print series we call "The Press" was awarded the grand prize in the art category of the 2021 Gmund Award in Germany.
In the spring of 2023, after receiving word that Tsutomo Printing would cease operations, we searched for a company that was capable of printing with a flatbed letterpress.
Our contacts told us that there was a company named TOKYO LETTERPRESS in Kagurazaka that may be able to do the printing. We were invited to a workshop in the company with their polished Heidelberg printing press.
Hiroshi Munakata, from the company, bought the German-made Heidelberg flatbed printing press in March 2022. They searched for a property that could house the machine, renovated it, and then installed the printing press. The first test print was made in April 2023. The following week, we visited their workshop in Kagurazaka.
"Shueisha Manga-Art Heritage? Of course, I know about you,"
Mr. Munakata said after we introduced ourselves. "When I saw the news about The Press, I thought, 'The future of the letterpress is here,' and I told everyone about it. It was one of the main reasons why I purchased this machine."
Kyodo Printing Co., Ltd. also informed us that they had found a flatbed press in Asakusa. It was in a printing company called Nikkodo. The machine they were using was made in Japan. An offset printing machine and a letterpress are placed side by side in the workshop, enabling one technique to be overlaid with the other in a single location.
Both flatbed printing presses in Kagurazaka and in Asakusa are of course valuable machines. After consulting with both companies and carrying out test prints, verification, and research, it now has become possible to continue with “The Press’ series.
In order to distinguish these works from the previous works produced in Nagano, the artwork introduction label will read "The Press (Tokyo)."
