In 1956 the College Women's Association of Japan held in Tokyo its first print show. Since then in an unbroken sequence the show has been an annual event, prestigious for the artists participating, felicitous for admirers and collectors of contemporary Japanese print art. For this year's show, CWAJ received 650 submissions. Of these, 222 prints were selected to go on exhibition and sale. The work chosen for the cover of the 46th annual catalog is a silk-screen print entitled "Genpei: Minamoto no Tametomo." Artist Hideo Takeda said it was one of the last prints in a series that he began in 1985. "It is less an historical image of Minamoto no Tametomo, and more a visualization of my image of this ancient warrior," he commented.

Hideo Takeda

Now in his early 50s, Takeda was born in Osaka to a family engaged in business. He is the only artist in a family of three siblings. "I always enjoyed drawing," he said, "but I wasn't interested in any "serious" subjects." His artistic skills were at a level to carry him through the entrance examination for Tama Art University in Tokyo. He majored in sculpture, but a chance visit to a bookshop set him on a different course. He had been captivated by the illustrations he saw in a Playboy magazine.