Japan still needs a lot of help to cope with the horrific earthquake-tsunami-nuclear catastrophe of last month, and a Port Orchard artist has come up with a creative way to do it.

Print artist Yoshiko Yamamoto, who’s originally from Japan and who still has family in Tokyo, has created a block print of the northeast coastline of Japan which was destroyed by the tsunami and is donating the entire proceeds from its sale towards the Japan relief effort. The print is of a seascape of Matsushima Bay, just northeast of the city of Sendai. Before the earthquake, the bay was known as one of the three great views of Japan, the “Nihon Sankei” as noted in 1643 by the scholar Hayashi Razan. It was also praised by the renowned poet Basho in a haiku expressing, through its simplicity, the unutterable beauty of the area:

Matsushima, ah!

A-ah, Matsushima, ah,

Matsushima, ah.

Proceeds from sales of the print ($30 each) will going to Empact Northwest, a volunteer non-profit organization which is providing medical relief in the Sendai area.

Growing up in Tokyo, Yoshiko Yamamoto first studied sculpture at Tama Art University in Japan, then moved to California where she studied classical music and modern Japanese history at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been making letterpress prints with her husband Bruce Smith sine 1996, and has lived in the Northwest since 2001.

For more information on print sales, contact Bruce Smith at tabby@pobox.com or 360-871-7707