"Zokin-Gake" rag-wiping Japanese retouching technique. Info?

Hello,

I hope I put my query in the right category.



In 2015 the Japanese photographer Chieko Shiraishi published his book "Shimakage (Island Shadow)". The images of the book are gelatin sliver prints which have been processed under an old Japanese retouching technique like "rag wiping", named "Zokin-Gake". I tried to find more info on this process, but nothing found. Is it a bleaching technique? Any text or tutorial on how to do it? In fact, my knowledge on any bleaching technique is quite limited.

Thanx in advance,
Fotis

Do you possibly mean zokin zuri? I used to do that, as did several people I knew, but it was related to lino or woodblock printing. You roll or brush your ink onto your printing surface, then wipe some of it off gently w/ a rag in order to give a much softer image. I can't imagine how you could do it w/ conventional photo printing, but you could if you made a photogravure. Same principle. Or, I wonder if he used a rag to wipe the emulsion onto the paper?

Never mind all that guessing. Apparently it's where you take a finished print and touch it up w/oil pigments. Mixed media sort of deal.

According to the Yokohama Museum of Art"Zokin-Gake" is the correct term for this technique which is more or less an adaptation of the zokin-zuri for the photographic medium. Yamamoto Makihiko is another photographer who used this technique. To quote "Yokohama Museum of Art, selected works from the collection, 1989 : " He printed onto photographic paper and then wiped out sections using oil and a medium. Seems to me that he did exactly what Momus wrote in his last sentence.

I found a smattering of information here:

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/yanretro/20110512/1305177797

translating the page to English, I found a reference to "rag cliff" in art photo

and that led to this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUtEiS81vMCfZixF_F3s6toA&v=3xgaTK3Vj_A

Thank you very much Michr for your thorough search. You are just right. I sent a message to mrs Shiraishi via facebook and she confirmed that this video was filmed by a friend of her and the technique is the basis of her work.

That's great. I'm glad it's what you're looking for. It looks very interesting and I want to try it myself. I hope you do as well and show us your results.