1017 Oiso Dear B.B., All through summer I have been very busy with preparations for the coming Exhibition of Japanese Art in U.S.A., as three delegates from America came to Tokyo & I had to take them round. By the way, this exhibition is on a very high artistic quality and will be held in Washington (National Gallery), New York, Boston, Chicago & Seattle from January 1953 till autumn. Meanwhile the repairing of your Chinese Scroll was making progress & I went to see it every now & then. Now it is all over & ready to be sent back to you through Italian Embassy here. At present the Italian Ambassador Marquis D’Ajeta is very busy with the recent arrival of the Italian trade mission to Tokyo, but as soon as I see him, I shall have the scroll sent back to you by diplomatic bag. Enclosed, I send you Statement of account for the whole expense (repairing & insurance). Please [here several lines are missing]. The bill of Mayuyama & Co., who did the whole work, I have paid myself (Japanese Yen 61,462.02), and I want its equivalent $170.72 to be paid to the above mentioned Mr. H. Nagatani of Chicago, to whom I owe some money in my last trip to U. S. Before the scroll was repaired, I had it photographed. After the repairing was finished, I compared the scroll with the photographs before the repairing & I ascertained that the repairing is perfect. I showed the scroll to many Japanese experts & they all admired it very very much. I wanted to have some part of it reproduced in colour, but as the repairing took so much time, and as I imagine you miss it badly, I send it back to you immediately. To reproduce it in colour takes much time. For the coming Exhibition of Japanese art in America, I am reluctant to go to U.S., although I am asked to do so, because I shall feel unsettled for another half a year & I cannot do my own scholarly works. If I go there, of course, I shall be happy to meet my friends again, John Walker, Edgell etc. I hope you are well. I was told that last summer was very hot in Italy, and I am anxious whether you did not suffer from the heat too much. With all my love & regard to BB and to Nicky, Yours ever, Yukio Yashiro |