Diary: Feb. 23rd '02, in London

Diary: Feb. 23rd '02, in London is one of Tetsuya Noda's travel entries in the Diary series, the lifelong sequence of dated, autobiographical prints that has defined his contribution to contemporary mokuhanga-mixed-media. Begun in 1968, the Diary treats each print as a journal page: the date and, in this case, the location stand in for a conventional title, and the image preserves a moment from the artist's lived experience. The 2002 sheet, sourced from a photograph taken during a stay in London, was made using Noda's distinctive hybrid process, in which a Gestetner mimeograph stencil transfers a photographic image onto handmade Japanese paper before hand-carved woodblocks add layers of flat color and tactile impression. The combination gives the work an unmistakable visual signature: the slightly granular, photographic ground reads as documentary, while the woodblock overprinting roots the image firmly in the centuries-old tradition of Japanese printmaking. The print is documented through the British Museum's collection via the ukiyo-e.org aggregator, reflecting the institutional reach of Noda's work and the international audience for the Diary series. As a London entry, it also marks one of the many points at which the series steps outside Tokyo to register an encounter abroad, demonstrating how Noda has used the Diary format both to anchor himself in everyday Japanese life and to convert moments of travel into compact, lasting visual records.